28/01/2010

Donegal Shaken By Minor Earthquake

A minor earthquake measuring 1.6 on the Momentum Magnitude Scale has struck Donegal on Thursday night.

The quake prompted a number of people to flee from their homes in the village of Kerrykeel, striking at around 7.30pm. The epicentre of the tremors was located at Bridgend in the south of the Inishowen peninsula, the School of Cosmic Physics at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies confirmed yesterday.

The Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, which performes a wide range of research functions noted the event.

"An earthquake occured near Bridge End, Co. Donegal on the evening of Thursday 7th January 2010 at about 7.30pm. It was a magnitude ML 1.6 and there was a number of felt reports."

The institute also provided a questionnaire where members of the public that felt the quake can record their experience.

According to the current scale, at around 1.6ML Donegal's quake was amongst the category of quakes that are rarely felt and occur up to 8,000 times a day around the world.

The order of magnitude increases exponentially along the currently used scale, and in comparison to Donegal, the 7.0 earthquake that recently decimated Haiti was equal to a 32 megaton explosion.

(DW/GK)

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