So there was an earthquake off the coast of Cork this morning

It was the first incident of seismic activity in the region since records began in 1978.

People of Cork, did you feel a little tremble when getting out of bed this morning? If you did you weren’t still dreaming; you were in fact feeling the effects of an earthquake measuring 2.6 magnitude which occurred shortly before 8am this morning. According to the Irish National Seismic Network (INSN), the quake occurred in the Celtic Sea approximately 18km south of Ballymacshoneen on the Seven Heads Peninsula in West Cork and was recorded by INSN seismic stations in Valentia (Kerry), Dublin and Wexford and British Geological Survey stations throughout Wales. Commenting on the quake, INSN Director Tom Blake from the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (DIAS) said: “This is a noteworthy event considering its magnitude and the fact that it occurred in a region that has not previously shown any seismic activity since we started recording activity 35 years ago. We have received felt reports from Courtmacsherry and Timoleague, which are located 25 and 27 kilometres respectively away from the epicentre. “We would invite anyone else who felt this morning’s earthquake to submit felt reports to us online at www.dias.ie,” Blake added. While it would be stretching it to call it a ‘spate’ the quake is the latest in a series of episodes of seismic activity to affect Ireland in recent years, following on from the magnitude 4.0 earthquake recorded 60km off the coast of Belmullet in County Mayo and one in Donegal last year and the 2.7 magnitude quake that hit Lisdoonvarna in County Clare in May 2010. Just to warn you, you can expect to see the picture below on a lot of people’s Facebook and Twitter feeds to illustrate the impact of the quake once word of it gets out to a wider audience.