While much of the UK was sleeping soundly last night, some areas were hit by an earthquake, which struck just before 3.45am in parts of Greater London, West Sussex and Surrey.
According to the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program, the tremor measured 3.3 on the Richter scale.
Any quake that measures less than 4 on the Richter scale is considered 'small' or 'minor', but people may still feel it and some objects may shake. These rarely cause any damage.
Advert
ITV weather presenter and meteorologist Laura Tobin tweeted to ask if anyone had felt the earthquake this morning, adding that there had been no reports of damage.
Advert
One person replied: "Yes! House shook, wardrobes/windows rattled...was such a bizarre sensation!"
Someone else wrote: "Yes we did, the whole house shook, made both my husband and I jump out of bed, and say what the 'bleep' was that...even the dog came running in!"
A third said: "Yes got woken by it last night. Thought it was lorry."
Advert
Dr Stephen Hicks, a seismologist from Imperial College, London, also tweeted: "Looks like another strongly felt earthquake as part of the Surrey seismic swarm this morning."
Surrey has been struck by several earthquakes recently, with three tremors felt on 1 April 2018. According to the BBC, the first had a magnitude of 2.7 while the second was 1.8 and the third - which hit an hour later - measured 1.7.
Then on 28 April there was a fourth quake, which measured 1.5, followed by a fifth on 27 June (2.6) and a sixth on 29 June (2.4).
Advert
The seventh and biggest earthquake, which occurred on 5 July, measured 3.0.
In December, Blackpool was also hit by an earthquake, which prompted fracking at the UK's only active shale gas site to be suspended.
Featured Image Credit: USGS
