GLOUCESTER EARTHQUAKE

Greymouth Evening Star, 29 August 1929, Page 9

GLOUCESTER EARTHQUAKE

ALARM OF INHABITANTS.

Britain is not wholly free from earthquakes. China was knocked from shelves, windows and doors rattled and houses shaken by a shock. in Northern Gloucestershire one night early in July. In the mining area of the Forest of Dean, many people thought that a pit disaster had occurred, and rushed out of doors. They were reassured by the police, but the real nature of the disturbance was not revealed until some time later.

The shock was accompanied by a long rumbling noise as if a heavy lorry was passing. At Gloucester an invalid woman said she felt the bed jump under her, while mothers rushed upstairs to comfort their frightened children. Severe earthquake shocks in the Gloucester district 15 years ago, coincided with an earthquake in Jamaica. On that occasion windows were broken, chimneys fell, and a pond drained away.

Inquiries at the local collieries revealed that no damage was done by the shock. Gloucestershire lies within the areas where there are faults in the geological strata. There are others in Herefordshire, Derbyshire and in the Eastern counties near Colchester.