UPDATE: Earthquake shakes parts of UK*

An earthquake has shaken parts of Kent, damaging buildings and
disrupting electricity supplies.

Homes in five streets in Folkestone had to be evacuated because of
structural damage including cracked walls and fallen chimneys.

The tremor measuring 4.3 on the Richter scale struck at 0819 BST and
experts said its epicentre was a few miles off the coast in the English
Channel.

One woman was taken to hospital with a neck injury.

Chief Superintendent Ally Hope said: "Given the time this happened and
the number of people that were about we should be genuinely thankful
that so few people were hurt."

All our street shook...the seagulls went crazy
Karol Steele

The injured 30-year-old woman was taken to William Harvey Hospital in
Ashford.

Kent Fire and Rescue Service took more than 200 emergency calls, from
people concerned about a variety of issues ranging from structural
damage to gas smells.

EDF Energy said it had managed to restore electricity to most of the
several thousand homes left without power in the Folkestone and Dover area.

Ch Supt Hope said that the major transport infrastructure in the area
also appeared to have escaped damage.

"The information I have is that the ferry ports are running normally,
and that the Channel Tunnel is running normally," he said.

He said he was aware in some cases there are secondary tremors and
called for people in the area to be alert, but not alarmed.

A firefighter inspecting a damaged chimney
The earthquake damaged several homes in Folkestone

The Kent incident is the largest recorded in Britain since an earthquake
in Dudley in 2002.

British Geological Survey (BGS) seismologist Roger Musson said the
tremor was around 4.3 on the Richter scale, with an epicentre 7.5 miles
off the Dover coast.

"This is by no means a complete surprise," he said. "There have been
earthquakes in this location before.

"Two of them have been some of the biggest earthquakes ever to affect
Britain.

"The first was in 1382 and in 1580 a quake with a magnitude of about six
killed two people in London.

Map of the earthquake epicentre

"There were also smaller tremors in 1776 and 1950 in the area, which
were in the "low fours" and on a similar scale to the one today.

"It was a matter of time before we had another earthquake here," he said.

Residents in Folkestone gathered outside their homes to survey the damage.

The Salvation Army also comforted those affected by the tremor with
shelter and refreshments. Up to 100 people, including families and the
elderly, arrived at a church in Canterbury Road, Folkestone.

Mother's lucky escape

Paul Hatton, 38, of Folkestone, said he and his brother Neil initially
thought the tremor was caused by an explosion.

He said: "I was upstairs and my brother was downstairs and I heard a
bang and thought that a lorry had crashed into something or that there
had been a gas explosion.

"I went outside and could smell a bit of gas and there were lots of
people outside."

Sam Millen, of Folkestone, was also at home when the earthquake struck.

She said: "The whole place was shaking just after 8am, the TV was
rocking backwards and forwards, alarms going off, lamps smashed onto the
floor, and now the small cracks in the house have got a lot bigger."

Paul Smye-Rumsby, who lives in Dover, said: "It was about 08.15 when
suddenly the bed shook violently.

"I thought my wife had got cramp or something but then I saw the
curtains were moving and the whole house was shaking."

Police want owners of local businesses which are empty because of the
weekend to check their premises for signs of damage.

The BGS is keen for anyone who felt the earthquake to fill in a
questionnaire on their website so they can collect information on the
impact of the earthquake to analyse in more detail its strength and
precise location.