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A 4.8 earthquake shook several parts of Britain early on Monday, September 23, 2002. There were reports of phone lines and electricity outages in some areas. No reports of serious damage occurred.

The quake could be felt from Wales to London. Britains strongest earthquake occurred in 1931 and measured 6.1 on the Richter Scale, and was located in the North Sea.

Information from the British Geological Survey:

SEISMIC ALERT: DUDLEY, WEST MIDLANDS 22 SEPTEMBER 2002 23:53 UTC 4.8 ML

Today BGS have received many felt reports from residents in Birmingham, Yorkshire, Berkshire, Wales, London and over much of central England, of a felt earthquake at 00:53 BST. The felt reports described "severe shaking", "very loud rumbling", "pictures fell off walls" and "everyone ran into the street". West Midlands police took 5000 calls in the first hour.

The following preliminary information is available for the earthquake:
DATE : 22 September 2002
ORIGIN TIME : 23:53 14.7s UTC
LAT/LONG : 52.52° North / 2.14° West
GRID REF : 390.4 kmE / 291.1 kmN
DEPTH : 9.7 km
MAGNITUDE : 4.8 ML
INTENSITY : 4+
LOCALITY : Dudley, West Midlands

Today's event locates some 43 km NW of the 4.2 ML Warwick earthquake, 60 km E of the 5.1 ML Bishops Castle earthquake, 95 km SW of the 4.1 ML Melton Mowbray earthquake and 160 km SE of the 5.4 ML Lleyn Peninsula earthquake. An earthquake of this size occurs every 8-10 years, on average, in the UK. Events of a similar size, within 50km occurred in 1926 (Ludlow, ML=4.8) and in 1916 (Stafford, ML=4.6).