Northampton throws a wobbly!
Date Published 27/02/2008 - Click here for more recent news
No it wasn’t a dream! The shuddering vibrations in your house were indeed real - as the citizens of Northampton and many other UK towns and cities were were awoken by an earthquake that registered 4.5 on the richter scale for the Northampton area.
Tremors were also felt in EASIserv.com Towers, where our new web server with online back-up facilities had just recently been installed - at great expense. So it is safe to say that, even if the ‘quake did strike The Towers - all of the company’s client files would still be secure as they are now backed-up online to a facility in faraway Bristol.
The ‘quake hit Northampton around 1:00 am with tremors lasting approximately 10 seconds. The ‘quake’s epicentre was near Market Rasen, in Lincolnshire, and measured 5.2 on the richter scale there.
The last time the Midlands was hit by an earthquake was in 2002 in the Dudley area where the ‘quake registered 5.5 on the richter scale, causing structural damage to homes.
How does an Earthquake occur? (...for anybody who still doesn't know...courtesy of Google...)
Well...the earth’s crust is broken up into tectonic plates. We rarely see earthquakes in places like Northampton because earthquakes usually occur at plate boundaries.
Earthquakes occur when the earth’s plates move alongside each other in opposite directions. Tectonic plates sometimes contain faults. These faults can cause the plates to lock together, which starts to build kinetic energy. When the plates eventually give - the kinetic energy is released to form an earthquake.
The morning after the earthquake we wanted to make sure that EASIserv.com Towers hadn’t been adversely effected by all this plate throwing. So, on entering The Towers Neil made a bee-line for his sacred Manchester United F.C. coffee mug to check it had not been shattered - whilst obliviously strolling past the brand new server ( which luckily enough was still in one piece)...talk about getting your priorities right!
Not every day in EASIserv.com Towers that we get to report (literally) on earth shattering news – it’s a tough job, but somebody’s got to do it.
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