Earth tremor in Sheffield

Truly scary. There has just been what felt like a large earth tremor in Sheffield (not sure how widespread it was). I have never felt anything like it before. I was sat in bed and suddenly the whole building started shaking. My first thought was “oh God is there something wrong with the building and it’s about to fall down” and then more rationally you realise it must be an earth tremor. It only lasted about 10 seconds but for that 10 seconds your heart starts racing and you feel as though it is never going to stop. Truly scary.

Just after it happened I went in to the living room to see if I could see any sign of something having happened, but there was nothing. My housemates felt it too. Nothing has fallen over in our flat and so I suppose it can’t have been that hard, but I am still shaking a bit now and it was about ten minutes ago.

Thankfully Sheffield Forum has just reassured me that I didn’t imagine it. I expect I will hear more in the morning.

UPDATE at 01.29:
Well it seems it was an earthquake and it was felt all over the country. 5.2 on the richter scale and centered north east of Lincoln, so only around 50 miles from here. In the grand scheme of things 5.2 isn’t much, but it is pretty powerful for the UK and it is rare for the epicentre to be anywhere near here. The immediate period after was fairly underwhelming with no sign of anything having happened. But then about 15 minutes later loads of alarms in some of the surrounding buildings started going off – an unlikely delayed reaction. Given that nothing has fallen over or been damaged in this building (unlike some others in Sheffield) I do at least know that the building I live in is pretty sturdy. I feel calmer now although my heart is still beating faster than usual and I can’t settle in bed (hence me writing this update).

It has to be one of the strangest 10 seconds ever and one of the most bizarre sensations I have ever felt. When it starts you don’t quite know what it is and just wonder if it is heavy traffic or the people upstairs being noisy. Then you realise it is far more than that. Then you wonder if the building is about to collapse. Then you realise how much everything is rattling and shaking hard. Then you wonder if things are going to fall over. Then you wonder if there is something you should do or somewhere you should go. Then suddenly it is all over and everything is still and quiet as if nothing has happened. Then you have to talk to someone else about it, look out for people in the street or go on to the internet and find out what happened. All these thoughts over about a 10 second period.