Residents assess damage after Kent quake
Published on : 29/04/2007
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Residents of the Folkestone area in Kent are continuing to assess the damage to their properties after yesterday's 4.3 earthquake.
Hundreds of homes have been damaged and 73 have been certified as too dangerous for families to live in.
Structural engineers are carrying out property checks in the town and a number of families can't currently reside in their homes.
The majority of the damage is related to chimneys and roof structures, although there are no reports of any major injuries from Saturday morning's tremor.
Residents reported hearing a loud bang in the early part of yesterday morning and emergency services were quick to determine that the problems had been caused by an earth tremor.
One Folkestone resident heard a loud noise during the course of the morning and subsequently decided to stay at home rather than travel to nearby Canterbury.
It was later confirmed that a 4.3 earthquake had caused a tremor at 08:10 BST. The epicentre was located at a depth of five kilometres below the English Channel.
Emergency services then received a flurry of calls from residents concerned about the tremor and rubble falling into the street.
Eurotunnel's services were unaffected by the earthquake and transport networks seemed to run on time, although police advised against any travel to Folkestone while the clean-up ensued.
The US Geological Survey provisionally placed the tremor at 4.7 on the Richter scale.
There have been earthquakes in the UK before, notably when a five magnitude quake struck Dudley in the west Midlands in 2002.
