Earthquake causes web problems

The website of the British Geological Survey (BGS) appears to be struggling to cope with the strain of traffic after an earthquake hit the UK at 1am GMT on 27 February 2008.

A BGS spokesman confirmed to Web User that the site's poor performance was due to "traffic problems" but did not elaborate further.

The earthquake's epicentre was close to the town of Market Rasen in Lincolnshire, though it was felt as far away as London. One person was reported to have been injured.

The BGS has further information about the earthquake on its website, which was the strongest in the UK since 1984.

You can find a map and readings from seismograms on the BGS website. Some 200 earthquakes are recorded in the UK every year, but most are so weak that they pass unnoticed.

Seismologist Dr Brian Baptie of the British Geological Survey described it as a "significant earthquake for the UK, which will have been widely felt across England and Wales".

If you felt the earthquake, you can complete a questionnaire on the BGS website.

A managed data hosting company in the local area, based in an ex-NATO command bunker 30 miles from the epicentre, said that its systems had withstood the earthquake.

"The facility was designed and constructed to be shock-resistant to counter the effects of a nuclear blast. We could barely have been closer to the earthquake, yet the operation of the data centre was completely unaffected," said Kelly Smith, managing director of SmartBunker.

Did you feel the earth move last night? Have your say in the Web User forums.

www.earthquakes.bgs.ac.uk
www.smartbunker.com

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