'I thought my husband had fallen off his treadmill': Earthquake recorded in Scotland as public reports building shuddering

A ‘small earthquake’ was recorded in Skirling in the Borders this morning as a number of reports from the public reveal they heard ‘a loud bang’ and ‘a room shudder’ with one member of the public assuming it was her husband falling off of a treadmill.

The earthquake was recorded in Skirling this morning.

A seismic alert in Skirling was issued by the UK's national earthquake monitoring agency, the National Geographical Survey, at 11.18am this morning, December 31.

The NGS recorded an earthquake of magnitude of 1.9 with a depth of 7.9 KM and an intensity of 3 EMS (European macroseismic scale).

The news of the recorded earthquake comes as people across the Borders report they either heard or felt the blast.

The NGS received a small number of reports from members of the public in the area.

One Skirling local reported to the NGS: “There was a loud bang and the room shuddered.

"I though my husband had fallen off the treadmill.

"Contacted neighbours two doors up and they felt it too.”

On a Facebook community page for residents of Biggar, a member of the public asked “anybody hear a very loud explosion a few minutes ago?” which was met by strong agreement with over 150 comments from users saying they either felt or heard the blast.

A user replied: “Yes! House shook, had no idea what it was.”

Other reports of the ‘loud bang’ have also been recorded in Symington, Peebles and Stobo.

However, seismologists have told the public there is ‘nothing to worry about’ as this incident was a ‘typical small earthquake.’

Glenn Ford, a seismologist for the NGS said: “This is a typical small earthquake that occur frequently in the UK area, but this event is just large enough to be felt by members of the public and is certainly nothing to worry about.

"Only approximately 10% of the 200-300 earthquakes that occur in the UK are large enough to be perceived by the public. Although not a common perception, earthquakes occur much more frequently in the UK than people realise and review of the recent activity on the BGS website will display this.”

According to the USGS, a magnitude of 5.3 is a moderate earthquake, and 6.3 is a strong earthquake, well above the recorded quake of 1.9 in Skirling.

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