Scottish island shaken by early evening earthquake

Islanders are telling us they could feel their whole house move.

Author: Kieran LuddyPublished 30th Jan 2024

An earthquake that rocked the Isle of Mull felt like a car hitting the side of a house, Greatest Hits Radio news has been told.

The 3.3 magnitude quake hit at 7.30pm on Monday according to The British Geological Survey (BGS).

Alasdair Satchell, who lives on Mull, said: “I heard this massive thump and I didn’t know what was going on at all.

“I thought maybe my wife, who was going to drop off my father-in-law, had driven into the side of the house.

“We’ve got this wooden house and you could really feel the whole thing shake and shoogle.”

The quake reverberated for 50 kilometres from its epicentre near the village of Dervaig and could be felt on neighbouring islands.

Alasdair said: “My friend, Jack, out in Tiree felt it – he thought it was the wind out there.

“It was just so sudden"

"It was unlike anything else – we were all so struck by it.”

It’s not the first time the Inner Hebrides have felt the natural phenomena. In the last ten years, there has been eight earthquakes above a 3.0 magnitude.

The largest known earthquake in Scotland occurred near Loch Awe in 1880, with a magnitude of 5.2.