Seismologist plays down quake’s shake

Seismologist plays down quake’s shake


Aine Ryan
aineryan@mayonews.ie

British Geological Survey seismologist David Galloway said the magnitude 4.0 quake which occurred in relatively shallow waters, would have been felt in many areas of Connacht, including Mayo, Sligo and Galway.
“We have been getting reports of the windows rattling, that the shaking felt like a lorry or some vehicle smashing into the back of the house, which is typical of the felt reports of earthquakes,” he said. “One report described it as like a steamroller going down the road.”
Mr Galloway said he had not heard of any damage to property and was not expecting any. “It is quite a small earthquake. It is only significant for the fact that the UK or Ireland does not get the big earthquakes of Italy or Turkey,” he added.
He said that the area where last Wednesday’s quake occurred is in the middle of a plate which is moving further from America, far from a fault line. This is why the force was not on the scale of areas where plates collide, like California or Japan, he said.

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