At 00:56 am on Wednesday 27th February 2008, Cambridge was hit by an earthquake, with a magnitude of 5.2 on the Richter scale. The British Geological Survey said that it was ‘the largest earthquake in the UK since the magnitude 5.4 Lleyn Peninsula earthquake in 1984′ (The Cambridge Student, 28/02/08). They claimed that it was a significant earthquake for the UK since earthquake of magnitude 5 or above occur roughly every 10 to 20 years in the UK.
Living in Hong Kong since I was born, I have never experienced a tremor before. To me, ‘earthquake’ is in fact just a term appears in my Geography textbook or the newspapers. It was indeed the first earthquake that i have ever felt. When the huge tremor struck, I was reading articles at my desk . All of a sudden, I could feel my desk and chair shaking. I did not have a clue what it was until I heard my flat mates slamming the doors and storming out of their rooms. Fortunately, it only lasted about 10 seconds. If the tremor had lasted longer, I would have been petrified.
