Earthquake in Cornwall: what happened today in Cornwall, Mounts Bay tremor felt in St Just and Redruth

An earthquake has rattled residents in Cornwall, with some likening it to an explosion or an avalanche.

The British Geological Survey's seismologists recorded the quake, registering a magnitude of 2.7 at 00:50 GMT. Its epicentre was located in the Mounts Bay region of south Cornwall, though its impact was felt by people from St Just in the north to Redruth, awakening them with a loud bang.

Though the earthquake is making headlines, experts have said the tremor fell within what is expected for the area, it was just one of many hundreds of small quakes that occur annually throughout the UK.

Dr David Hawthorn, a seismologist with the British Geological Survey, told the BBC: "We have 2-300 quakes a year, but about 30 are felt and this was at the lower end of those quakes. This was quite small by global standards.

"In the UK we have a phenomenally complicated geology and that's particularly true in Cornwall and sooner or later that stress weakens and we get an earthquake."

He urged those impacted to reach out to help with research. "We are still getting data in,"he said, "so please give us a description because we want to know how much it shakes the ground in any given location."