Earthquake shakes parts of Kent April 28 2007

An earthquake has shaken parts of Kent, damaging buildings and disrupting electricity supplies.
Homes in five streets in Folkestone had to be evacuated because of structural damage including cracked walls and fallen chimneys.
The tremor measuring 4.3 on the Richter scale struck at 0819 BST and experts said its epicentre was a few miles off the coast in the English Channel.
One woman was taken to hospital with a neck injury.
Chief Superintendent Ally Hope said: "Given the time this happened and the number of people that were about we should be genuinely thankful that so few people were hurt."
"All our street shook...the seagulls went crazy" said resident Karol Steele
Kent Fire and Rescue Service took more than 200 emergency calls, from people concerned about a variety of issues ranging from structural damage to gas smells.
EDF Energy said it had managed to restore electricity to most of the several thousand homes left without power in the Folkestone and Dover area.
Ch Supt Hope said that the major transport infrastructure in the area also appeared to have escaped damage.
"The information I have is that the ferry ports are running normally, and that the Channel Tunnel is running normally," he said.
He said he was aware in some cases there are secondary tremors and called for people in the area to be alert, but not alarmed.
The earthquake damaged several homes in Folkestone
The Kent incident is the largest recorded in Britain since an earthquake in Dudley in 2002.
British Geological Survey (BGS) seismologist Roger Musson said the tremor was around 4.3 on the Richter scale, with an epicentre 7.5 miles off the Dover coast.
"This is by no means a complete surprise," he said. "There have been earthquakes in this location before.
"Two of them have been some of the biggest earthquakes ever to affect Britain.
"The first was in 1382 and in 1580 a quake with a magnitude of about six killed two people in London.
"There were also smaller tremors in 1776 and 1950 in the area, which were in the "low fours" and on a similar scale to the one today.
"It was a matter of time before we had another earthquake here," he said.
Residents in Folkestone gathered outside their homes to survey the damage.
The Salvation Army also comforted those affected by the tremor with shelter and refreshments. Up to 100 people, including families and the elderly, arrived at a church in Canterbury Road, Folkestone.

QUAKES IN THE UK
December 2006 - Dumfries and Galloway (magnitude 3.5)
September 2002 - Dudley, West Midlands (5.0)
October 2001 - Melton Mowbray (4.1)
September 2000 - Warwick (4.2)
April 1990 - Bishop's Castle, Shropshire (5.1)
July 1984 - Nefyn, north Wales (5.4)
June 1931 - in North Sea near Great Yarmouth (6.1)

Paul Hatton, 38, of Folkestone, said he and his brother Neil initially thought the tremor was caused by an explosion.
He said: "I was upstairs and my brother was downstairs and I heard a bang and thought that a lorry had crashed into something or that there had been a gas explosion.
"I went outside and could smell a bit of gas and there were lots of people outside."
Sam Millen, of Folkestone, was also at home when the earthquake struck.
She said: "The whole place was shaking just after 8am, the TV was rocking backwards and forwards, alarms going off, lamps smashed onto the floor, and now the small cracks in the house have got a lot bigger."
Paul Smye-Rumsby, who lives in Dover, said: "It was about 08.15 when suddenly the bed shook violently.
"I thought my wife had got cramp or something but then I saw the curtains were moving and the whole house was shaking."

They get younger and younger and the crime cannot get any worse than this!

A sixth teenager is due to appear in court charged with the murder of schoolboy Paul Erhahon.
The 13-year-old youth is also accused of the attempted murder and grievous bodily harm of a 15-year-old boy.
The youth, who was arrested on Wednesday, will appear at Waltham Forest Youth Court.
Paul, 14, died from a stab wound to the heart after he was attacked in the foyer of a block of flats in Leytonstone, east London, on April 6.
Five people have already been charged with Paul's murder.
Theo Diah, 18, of Anglian Road, Leytonstone, appeared at Waltham Forest Magistrates' Court to face the charge on Thursday.
He and four other teenagers - aged 13, 14, 15 and 17 - will appear at the Old Bailey next Tuesday.
They are all also accused of the attempted murder and grievous bodily harm of a 15-year-old boy.
Detectives have also arrested a 19-year-old man and three boys, one aged 14 and two aged 15, who have been bailed until June while further inquiries are carried out.
Paul was the seventh Londoner under 16 to be murdered since the end of January. He attended Kingsford Community School in Beckton, east London - the same school as 15-year-old Adam Regis, who was stabbed to death last month.

Finish with a flurry

Verwood finished the short mat league season with a win and 6 points at home against Poole Park Swans.
This win put them in a credible 5th place in division 5 and lays to rest the spectre of earning the wooden spoon last season.
The one thing they must overcome next season is their failure to win many points away from home.

The new outdoor season for Verwood Bowling Club starts tomorrow (18 April) with the opening of the green.
The Club teams achieved promotion in the New Forest and Dorset leagues last year so this year has exciting prospects and hopefully we can hold our own in the higher divisions.