The 100th anniversary of the british quake,

Nobody, even today, understands why there was an earthquake in south Wales: like everywhere else in Britain, it is a long way from the moving edge of a tectonic plate. Nevertheless, between 1860 and 1930 seismologists counted at least seven damaging earthquakes with epicentres running along a zone from offshore Pembroke, through Swansea, to Hereford. Several of these tremors were picked up in London, Manchester and even northern France. Historians have also identified seismic events around Swansea in 1832, 1775 and 1727. Is Swansea the victim of cyclic violence? Is there worse to come?

Glenn Ford, a senior seismologist at the British Geological Survey (BGS), said: "It's an extremely large earthquake in UK terms but not large in world terms; we'd only classify it as a light earthquake."


There was minor damage

BBC weather forecaster Pete Gibbs said: "It's not that unusual to have an earth tremor, but it is unusual to be that widespread and that widely reported.