LOCALS in the Brinny area near Bandon woke up on Tuesday morning to a sudden bang, which turned out to be a mini earthquake.
Those who experienced the earthquake at 5.50am took to social media to report it, with some believing the noise could have come from a nearby quarry, and others saying their own homes shook from it.
A permanent seismic station, used for monitoring seismicity in and around the country, detected that it was, in fact, a small earthquake. Speaking to The Southern Star, Dr Patrick Smith from the Irish National Seismic Network (INSN), said they detected the earthquake around 5km northeast of Bandon, at a very shallow depth, around 1km below the surface.
‘There is no need to be alarmed, as earthquakes of this size (of a magnitude of 1.6) are not uncommon in Ireland, but do not cause any damage,’ he said.
He added that significant damage to buildings and infrastructure typically only occurs with earthquakes of a magnitude (m) of 5.0 and above, depending on the depth and distance to the epicentre.
While such an event in southern Ireland is very unusual, the previous earthquake which was felt in West Cork was an m2.2 quake, in Courtmacsherry in December 2013. Dr Smith said that the centre typically detects about 20 earthquakes per year in Ireland, with the majority occurring in northern Donegal.
‘Tuesday’s earthquake seems to have been felt by some people in the Bandon/Crossbarry area, and so far we have received around 80 felt reports from members of the public,’ he said. This event was also recorded on citizen science seismometers in the south and west of the country, which are provided by the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies.
Dr Smith is also appealing to those who felt the earthquake to fill out a questionnaire, to help scientists build up an understanding of felt intensities of earthquakes around the Ireland. See insn.ie/you-felt-a-seismic-event/questionnaire
