Was there an earthquake today in Blackpool? Minor tremor disturbs dogs and cabinets near Weeton

A minor earthquake has struck near Blackpool – disturbing dogs and rumbling cabinets, the British Geological Survey said.

If you live in Weeton, Little Plumpton or Westby, as well as Blackpool, and felt a tremor on Friday evening, that was in fact a quake. The BGS confirmed that a 1.5 magnitude tremor struck at a depth of 2km outside Weeton on 3 February.

Some people reported to the BGS “a noise like a train coming near”, saying “dogs were disturbed” and “computer and cabinets shook”.

Another report said “several neighbours heard it”, although staff at Weeton Village Hall and at Ream Hills Holiday Park outside the village said they had not heard anything and neither had members of Weeton Parish Council.

A spokesperson from North West Ambulance Service said they had not heard any reports of people injured. There have been 39 earthquakes recorded around the British Isles in the last 60 days, according to the BGS.

The largest was at a magnitude of 3.2 and struck near the Isle of Mull in western Scotland on 19 January. The BGS also records earthquakes induced by human activity, but none have been recorded in the last 50 days.

In 2019, the government introduced a moratorium on fracking in the UK in part because of tremors caused by the extraction of shale gas at Cuadrilla’s site on Preston New Road.