Brynmawr, Cardiff, and valleys experience an earthquake

• Wales has been hit by an earthquake with a magnitude of 3.7, the largest since 2018.
• Smaller earthquakes are common.
• With 70 of them measuring more than 3.5 between 1727 and 1984.

Wales has been hit by an earthquake that was felt for 100 miles away. According to the British Geological Survey (BGS), the Earth’s surface was 1.8 miles (3 km) beneath the epicenter of the Friday evening quake, which had a magnitude of 3.7.

Although the epicenter was west of Crickhowell, Powys, and north of Brynmawr, Blaenau Gwent, individuals on Twitter claimed to have felt it as far away as Birmingham.

Several calls were received overnight, according to Gwent Police, but otherwise it was “business as usual” for the agency.

In Cardiff, 30 miles (50 km) distant, a journalist Alex Humphreys claimed to have felt the “small earthquake.”

“My whole bed shook,” she tweeted. Others described it as a “scary“ experience.

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Mini earthquake in South Wales last night! 😲 3.7 magnitude – the largest here since 2018. My whole bed shook. pic.twitter.com/vtyX4kfOQs

— Alex Humphreys (@allyhumphreys) February 25, 2023

According to BGS head of seismology Brian Baptie, it was the biggest earthquake to hit south Wales since a 4.6-magnitude tremor that occurred in February 2018 in Swansea, approximately 25 miles (40 km) west.

He continued by saying that, on average, there is just one earthquake in Britain each year with a magnitude of 3.7 or higher.

The North Sea saw the greatest earthquake of any size ever recorded in the UK on June 7, 1931, with a magnitude of 6.1.

The Dogger Bank region, 75 miles (120 km) northeast of Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, was where the epicenter was located.

Wales’ most violent earthquake, measuring 5.4, began at a depth of more than 12 miles in 1984 on the Llyn Peninsula in Gwynedd (20km).

Smaller earthquakes were common in Wales, according to the BGS, with 70 of them measuring more than 3.5 between 1727 and 1984.

One of the most destructive earthquakes to strike Britain in the 20th century was the 5.2-magnitude one that struck Swansea in 1906. South Wales reported wall and chimney damage.

Wales has seen a number of minor earthquakes recently.

The BGS noted tremors with magnitudes of 0.9 on February 4 in Llwynmawr, close to Chirk, Wrexham; 1.1 on January 20 in Llandybie, Carmarthenshire; and 2 on December 27 in Llanbedr, Powys.

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