Scotland earthquake: 3.1 magnitude tremor strikes in middle of night

16 November 2021, 08:38

People in western Scotland have been rattled by an earthquake which struck the region in the middle of the night.

The 3.1 magnitude quake happened just before 2am on Tuesday.

Its epicentre was 11 miles north-west of the town of Lochgilphead, 88 miles north-west of Glasgow, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) said.

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More than 30 people reported that they felt the tremor from as far as Edinburgh and Ballycastle in Northern Ireland.

The earthquake happened six miles (10km) below the Earth's surface, the agency added.

One resident, from Tarbert Argyll, wrote on social media: "Nothing like an earthquake to jolt you up. That's the biggest one I've felt."

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They added: "I've never felt one that big, everything in my room shook."

Another person said: "Woken in the night by an almighty crash. Nothing obvious. Strange. Then hear I news just now - Earthquake just north of Lochgilphead!!! Argyll turning into California by the minute."

Data from the British Geological Survey shows between 200 and 300 earthquakes are detected in the UK every year, with tremors of between 3.0 and 3.9 magnitude occurring on the mainland once every three years on average.