People in county describe tremor lasting up to 20 seconds, but fire service reports no structural damage
A small earthquake has hit Cumbria, causing alarm but no serious damage. The tremor of magnitude 3.6 struck just before 11pm, the US Geological Survey said, and lasted up to 20 seconds, according to people in the area.
Data from the British Geological Survey showed the location of the quake as Coniston, Cumbria, 5.6 miles south west of Ambleside, with a depth of 8.9 miles.
Alan Robertson, who was in the hotel he owns in Eskdale, near Whitehaven, described how the entire building shook.
"I was watching TV and there was this sort of really loud rumble. Then the entire building shook," he said.
"I ran out of the front door, only to be confronted by my guests running out of their part of the house. We couldn't believe it.
"The tremor must have lasted 15 or 20 seconds. It was sizeable enough to shake an old and well-established building.
"If I lived in a city, I would have assumed it was an explosion. I am still in shock. I can barely get my thoughts together."
A spokesman for Cumbria fire and rescue service said: "We have had confirmed reports from officers around the county. It happened around half an hour ago. We felt it here in Cockermouth.
"We have had no requests from members of the public. At the moment, we don't believe there is any structural damage."
A resident in Kendal told Sky News: "My house started to shake ? we went to our patio windows and the neighbours, they were out. The first storey physically shook.
"My girlfriend said a similar thing happened early last year. I looked it up on Google and sure enough, it has happened before."
Alan Piper, the landlord of The Sun hotel and pub in Coniston, said: "We felt something move but we didn't know what it was. I'd just got back from the pub and we thought it was snow falling off the roof."
Customers at the Church House Inn in Torver were finishing their drinks when the quake hit.
Michael Beaty quipped: "We are still trying to coax them out from under the tables. But then again they are quite often under the table."
The ground began to shake just as he was calling last orders, he recalled.
"We heard this rumbling and we thought a house had blown up or a plane had crashed. But it just kept rumbling.
"There have been earthquakes before, but this is the biggest one I've ever felt."
Bill Dormer was one of those drinking inside the pub when the earthquake hit. "Michael was calling last orders and the glasses started shaking on the table. The earth moved in Torver tonight," he said.
"The glasses were certainly wobbling. But then again, the customers are always wobbling."
Susan Potter, geophysicist at the US Geological Society, said that in the last 40 years, six earthquakes had been recorded within 30 miles of the latest quake. Of those two have been of a magnitude of 3.7 ? in 1988 and 2009.
"This general region has had earthquakes of the same magnitude in the past," Potter said.
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