Earthquake in Central London!

I was sitting at my PC with one eye on a Vampire movie when the indoor aeriial started moving around and various other bits and pieces started swinging. I'm about 12 miles away from the epicentre and I really felt it here, in fact there were two distinct events, the second being less severe but lasting slightly longer. I felt quite queasy while I was being turned into a quivering heap!

Where the effects of an earthquake are felt, when they are felt, and how severe they depends on lots of factors, not just proximity. The depth of the quake, the frequency of the shockwaves, the nature of the shockwaves (iirc there are at leas three distinct types), the ground type and the rock type, etc. all play significant parts. Then you have the man-made factors - the type, height, construction, location and resonant frequencies of buildings play a part in how it is felt. I remember pictures from the Kobe earthquake in Japan of two buildings next to each other, one almost completely destroyed, the other virtually untouched.

When I used to live on the 17th floor (the highest one of the apartment block), I've had 'earthquakes' every day when a rather heavy lorry came to the nearest rubbish boxes to empty them. The asphalt near them was bad (as often, in Moscow), and the lorry took each rubbish box (they are pretty big and heavy, too) and reversed it upside down to through the rubbish inside itself. There was a lot of noise and vibration, and the plates and cups in the cupboard 'made sounds' )))) So there's nothing special for me when I hear things I'm reading here.
Anyway, did anyone notice what caused an 'earthquake' in Central London?

Colin said:


It's a question of the kind of wave that is dominant at the point of observation. The quake occurred 15 km down and those above the epicentre just bumped up and down. For them it was a short sharp shock but not necessarily all that damaging on a conventional brick building. Further away the energy arrives at the surface at an angle and thus there is an increasing shear component in the quake. This is much more damaging to a bricks and mortar building, particularly chimneys as they are designed with the idea that gravity always points straight down and they do not like being shook from side to side. Further away and the shear wave dominates along with the ground wave which can best be compared to ripples on a pond from a dropped stone. These different waves (known as P, S and L waves respectively) travel at different speeds in rock and therefore arrive at a point of observation some distance apart, thus the rumble and length of the quake actually increases away from the epicentre. Compare this to a loud clap of thunder overhead and the distant rumble heard from the same event many miles away. Many years ago on the South African mines, I was underground when a similar earthquake struck nearby. All I heard was a very loud ‘boing!’ (which lasted as long as it took to read the word) and the whole tunnel filled with dust! I didn't 'feel' a thing.

Is there a railway analogy? Maybe. Take a rough shunt with loose coupled stock in the days of steam. Quite a bang next to the locomotive, but by the time the shockwave reaches the guards’ van, he could be knocked completely off his feet.

LINCOLNSHIRE EARTHQUAKE APPEAL PLEASE GIVE GENEROUSLY
A major earthquake measuring 5.3 on the Richter scale hit Lincolnshire in the early hours today .Its epicentre was in the Market Rasen area. Victims were seen meandering around aimlessly.

The earthquake decimated the area causing approximately £30 worth of damage. Several priceless collections of historic tractors were damaged beyond repair and all three of the County's compoooooters went down.

Three areas of historic scare crows were disturbed. Many locals were woken well before their press gang Transit mini buses arrived.

Lincs FM reported that hundreds of residents were confused and bewildered and were still trying to come to terms with the fact that something interesting had happened in Lincolnshire.

One strange effect of the earthquake was to startle thousands of toads into action - but most residents returned to their homes within minutes

One resident - Tracy Sharon Smith, a 15-year-old mother of 5 said, "It was such a shock, my little Chardonnay-Mercedes come running into my bedroom crying. My youngest two, Tyler-Morgan and Victoria-Storm slept through it all. I was still shaking when I was skinning up and watching Jeremey Kyle later in the morning."

Another resident said, 'I was in bed with my five daughters and their grandmother, as usual, and on feeling the vibrations I nudged my mum in the back and said 'Has that disturbed the ducks, Duck?'

Apparently looting, muggings and car crime were unaffected and carried on as normal. The British Red Cross has so far managed to ship 4,000 crates of Sunny Delight to the area to help the stricken locals.

Rescue workers are still searching through the rubble and have found large quantities of personal belongings, including benefit books, jewellery from Elizabeth Duke at Argos and Bone China from Poundland.

HOW CAN YOU HELP?

This appeal is to raise money for food and clothing parcels for those unfortunate enough to be caught up in this disaster.

Clothing is most sought after - items most needed include:
Fila or Burberry baseball caps
Kappa tracksuit tops (his and hers)
Shell suits (female)
White sport socks

Wellington Boots & Barbour jackets
Rockport boots and any other items usually sold in Primark.
Food parcels may be harder to come by, but are needed all the same.

Required foodstuffs include:
Microwave meals, Tins of baked beans, Ice cream, Cans of Colt 45 or
Special Brew.
22p buys a biro for filling in the compensation forms and their giros.
£2 buys chips, crisps and blue fizzy drinks for a family of 9.
£5 buys B&H and a lighter to calm the nerves of those affected.

Breaking news***
Rescue workers found a girl in the rubble smothered in raspberry
alco-pop.
'Where are you bleeding from?' they asked, "Scunthorpe" said the girl,
wossit gotta do wiv you?" (And who put the ---- in Scunthorpe anyway?)

Please don't forward this to anyone living in Spalding/Boston area - oh,
sod it... they won't be able to read it anyway

Very funny SE13 ..... I am currently residing in the Spalding area - but it's ok- I have no genetic link to the locals.

I slept through it...however my neighbours were all woken by it..quite a scary thing to happen here!!