LONDON -- The British Geological Survey says a magnitude 4.4 quake has shaken southern Wales.

So far there have been no reports of major damage or injuries.

The earthquake happened Saturday about 2:30 p.m. local time. Its epicenter was about 20 kilometres (12.43 miles) northeast of Swansea.

The British Geological Survey said on Twitter that an earthquake of that magnitude occurs in Britain about every two or three years. </s> A 4.4 magnitude earthquake hit south Wales on Saturday, causing tremors to be felt across western Britain.

The quake’s epicentre was 10km north east of Swansea, according to monitors EMSC.

Yet while the earthquake came as a shock to many people, especially as it is the largest quake to hit the area since 1906, many were left feeling underwhelmed - with some even missing the tremors altogether.

Here are some of the best ways Brits reacted to today’s earthquake: </s> The British Geological Survey said it was the largest quake in the area since 1906.

The quake’s epicentre was 10km north east of Swansea, according to monitors EMSC and its tremors were felt across western Britain.

A 4.4 magnitude earthquake, which only happens every two to three years in the UK, has hit Wales.

This is the biggest event in the area since the 5.2 magnitude earthquake in 1906. pic.twitter.com/zq9JEIttQI

It said a quake of this size happened in Britain only once every two or three years.

Just in: Event epicentre approx 20km NNE of Swansea, with 4.4 magnitude at a depth of 7.4km. Events of this magnitude only happen in the UK every 2-3 years.

People reported feeling the tremor in Bristol, Cardiff and Swansea among other places.

This British Geological Survey real-time seismogram monitoring station at Monmouth recorded an earthquake that's widely being reported on Twitter across Wales, SW & NW England, parts of the Midlands. @BritGeoSurvey are currently analysing the data, with more info to follow soon. pic.twitter.com/2iEu0k1KUJ

We are in the process of analysing data for the felt report of a tremor in the SW of England. As soon as we know more we’ll let you know.

The Met Office reported feeling it in their headquarters in Exeter.

We felt the #earthquake here at Met Office HQ too. If you have any further enquires please get in contact with @BritGeoSurvey https://t.co/Tc9zFoYp7F

EMSC estimated 10 million people lived in the area where the quake could be felt.

Map of the testimonies received so far following the #earthquake M4.7 in Wales-England Region, U.k. 40 min ago pic.twitter.com/KhWEV08XDU

Dyfed Powys Police said it was getting “an extremely high call volume” about the tremor but told people: “There is nothing to worry about.”

We are receiving an extremely high call volume reporting some sort of earth tremor in the area - we are receiving reports from across the whole of Wales (we felt it in our control room too!). For now - it is unexplained - but there is nothing to worry about.

HuffPost UK reporter Kathryn Snowdon was in a cafe in Swansea city centre at the time the earthquake struck.

She said: “It suddenly felt as though the whole building was shaking for a few seconds. It was scary at first but it was over with so quickly that no-one was really sure what had just happened.

“Some thought it was just very windy outside and others thought that a large vehicle was passing nearby.

“It wasn’t until we started searching on social media that it became clear it was felt across the rest of south Wales and England.

“There aren’t any signs of damage and people look to be carrying on as normal.”

Rory Castle Jones, who lives in Craig-Cefn-Parc, just outside Swansea, told HuffPost UK: “We felt the house shake and heard a rumbling. I’ve never experienced an earthquake before and had no idea what it was.

“We thought maybe it was a mine shaft collapsing or something.”

Emily Perkins, who lives in Bristol, said: “I was at home in our flat just around the corner from Temple Meads, and the whole building shook - far more than you’d expect from a heavy lorry or a freight train.

“It felt like the whole building was pushed to the side, with mirrors shaking. There isn’t any damage in the area that we can see, but I wouldn’t be surprised if some buildings have structural issues discovered later.” </s> A 4.2-magnitude earthquake hit southern Wales Saturday morning, the first in the United Kingdom of that size in about 10 years.

The earthquake, with an epicenter north of Swansea, was felt through southwest England and the south of Wales, according to the BBC. However, no reports of serious damage or injury has been recorded. The earthquake was the largest one felt in the area since a 5.2-magnitude earthquake in 2008, the BBC reported.

Despite the lack of known injuries or damage, authorities said they are still seeing a high call volume as a result of the earthquake. Police are asking people to only call if they are injured or if there are damages.

Many took to Twitter to share their experiences as well. </s> Britain was hit by its biggest earthquake in a decade on Saturday, the British Geological Survey (BGS) said on Saturday, with tremors felt across parts of Wales and southwest England but no notable damage reported.

The BGS said the quake was of magnitude 4.4, with an epicentre 20 km (12.5 miles) north of the Welsh city of Swansea, adding that it was the biggest quake in the Britain since 2008.

Earthquakes are not common in Britain and are rarely powerful. The 2008 quake in Market Rasen, north-east England, was magnitude 5.2 – 16 times more powerful than Saturday’s quake.

However, Saturday’s earthquake in Wales was felt as far away as Carisbrooke Castle on the Isle of Wight, over 200 km (125 miles) away.

Videos on social media showed people gathered outside Swansea University, which was holding an open day, after an apparent evacuation.

“Thank you to everyone who attended our visit day. We hoped that you had a surprisingly ‘earth moving’ experience!” Swansea University said on Twitter. </s> Image copyright British Geological Survey Image caption A seismometer shows the earth's movements on Saturday afternoon

A minor earthquake with a 4.4 magnitude has affected parts of Wales and England.

The quake was felt over all of Wales, most of western England, as far east as London and as far north as the southern edge of the Lake District, the British Geological Survey (BGS) said.

The epicentre was approximately 20km north-north-east of Swansea and at a depth of 7.4km, it added.

There have been no reports of serious damage or injuries.

Events of this magnitude happen in the UK every three to five years, the BGS said.

Roger Musson, from the BGS, said it was the largest earthquake in mainland Britain for the last 10 years - since one with a magnitude of 5.2 struck in 2008 in Market Rasen, Lincolnshire.

He said it was "relatively shallow" for a larger British earthquake. They are usually around 15-20km deep.

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption "The whole building shook": Roxanne Woolhouse describes the tremor

Dyfed Powys Police force said it had received "an extremely high volume" of calls relating to tremors.

South Wales Police urged the public to avoid calling the emergency services unless it was to report damage or injuries.

The tremors caused play to be held up at a Welsh Football League match at Port Talbot, 10 miles from Swansea, as the town's team faced Taff's Well.

A tweet from Port Talbot's Twitter account said: "Temporary stop in play. A recorded earthquake in the area. Incredible."

Steven Clathworthy, who lives near Bridgend, south Wales, said he heard a bang and the settee moved.

"All the neighbours were out asking 'what's happening?'" he said.

Image copyright US Geological Survey

Bryan Jones, 72, of Treorchy, Rhondda Cynon Taff, said: "It was like a tremor but it was quite frightening for my granddaughter - she swore a little bit and my wife got up asking 'What was that?'"

'The walls cracked'

Vera Sanderberg, from Croyde in north Devon, said she felt her house shake.

"The neighbour's horses bolted," she said.

"It was just a split second. We can't see anything damaged."

In Cheltenham, Paul Samway said it felt like "a washing machine breaking down".

"We heard the walls crack and there was a bit of juddering," he added.

"We thought nothing of it until we saw reports from other people on social media."

Image caption The epicentre was approximately 20km north-north-east of Swansea in south Wales

Louise Craig, from Connah's Quay in north Wales, said it was "the most excitement I've had on a Saturday afternoon for a while".

"I get a lot of fat wood pigeons jumping up and down on my chimney and I first of all thought the noise was them but they must have put on a heck a lot of weight to make the house shake," she told the BBC.

Donna Johnson in Caerphilly said she was "really scared".

"The house started rocking, and I said, 'oh my god the house is falling down'. We have a bungalow, and there is risk of subsidence here," she told the BBC.

"I ran outside - I was shaking like a leaf... The cat went outside before me, so she must have known."

Sue Field in Shifnal, Shropshire, said she felt the tremors from her armchair.

"I thought I'd had one too many wines for my birthday lunch," she said. </s> A 4.4-magnitude earthquake shook South Wales Saturday, rattling buildings and startling residents throughout the coastal towns where quakes are uncommon.

The epicenter was located a few miles north of the town of Swansea, Wales, according to the British Geological Survey (BGS), but tremors could be felt across south Wales and the southwest of England.

It was the strongest recorded earthquake in the area for more than 100 years, the BGS said. So far, no injuries have been reported.

Tyler Mears, who lives 30 miles north of the quake’s epicenter in Rhondda, South Wales, said when her house began to shake she initially thought of many causes, but it didn’t occur to her that it could be an earthquake.

“We live right by a mountain, so at first I thought a car had come down the mountain and crashed into the side of the house,” Mears said.

She quickly took to social media, where she said her friends throughout the country said they felt the quake, too.

“We all kind of looked at each other in disbelief,” she said. “We have rain and thunderstorms, but never an earthquake.”

Although small earthquakes in the United Kingdom are not uncommon, the British Geological Survey said historically quakes above a 5-point magnitude on the Richter scale occur about every decade. </s> A 5.4-magnitude aftershock rattled Searles Valley Friday morning, less than 24 hours after a 6.4 magnitude quake in the area shook Southern California.

The aftershock occurred just after 4 a.m. about 10 miles west of Searles Valley, according to the United States Geological Survey. It was the strongest of the more than 200 aftershocks that followed Thursday morning's quake.

An aftershock of this magnitude was expected by experts following Thursday's temblor.

Dr. Lucy Jones, a seismologist and founder of the Dr. Lucy Jones Center for Science & Society, estimated during a news conference hours after Thursday's earthquake that there was a 50 percent chance an aftershock of 5.0 magnitude would strike Thursday afternoon.

More: One of the strongest earthquakes in years rattles Southern California, damaging areas of Kern County

"It’s certain this area is going to be shaking a lot today," Jones said on Thursday. "Some of those aftershocks will exceed magnitude five."

The last time Southern California had an earthquake greater than magnitude 6.0 was in October 1999. The magnitude-7.1 quake was centered about 30 miles north of Joshua Tree National Park headquarters and was felt in Nevada, Arizona and Mexico.

Both Thursday's earthquake and its strongest aftershock occurred about 170 miles northwest of Palm Springs. Local experts said there's no need for additional concern in the Coachella Valley.

“In general, the earthquake hazard is high in the Coachella Valley, but this particular earthquake is not a cause of additional concern for people in the Palm Springs area,” said Abhijit Ghosh, a professor of geophysics at the University of California, Riverside, on Thursday afternoon.

This article will be updated as more information becomes available. </s> The magnitude-5.3 earthquake that rattled Southern California on Thursday was the strongest in the area several years.Though there were no immediate reports of damage, the quake was felt across a wide area and was a blunt reminder that California is earthquake country. The U.S. Geological Survey put the epicenter about 23 miles off the Channel Islands, about 85 miles west of Los Angeles.It was centered near the Eastern Santa Cruz Basin Fault Zone, Caltech seismologist Egill Hauksson said. "Earthquakes happen out there now and again. There's a major offshore fault system," he said.Seismologist Lucy Jones said on Twitter that the fault system "moves Southern California around a bend of the San Andreas fault."There is a slightly greater likelihood that the the temblor could trigger a larger earthquake, but that chance decreases with time, Hauksson said.The last big earthquake in the Channel Islands region before Thursday's temblor was in 1981, which was a magnitude 6.0, Hauksson said. A magnitude 4.8 quake struck near the islands in 2013.The last quake to be felt this widely in the L.A. area was a magnitude 4.4 in Encino in 2014. That quake also shook a wide area and was the largest in the Los Angeles area in four years. It was the strongest to hit directly under the Santa Monica Mountains in the 80 years.The Santa Barbara area is home to a number of earthquake faults, the largest of which is the Santa Ynez fault, which is 80 miles long and runs just north of the city. That fault is believed to be capable of triggering an earthquake as powerful as 7.5.The great Santa Barbara quake of 1925, recorded as a magnitude 6.8, destroyed a significant portion of the city's downtown area, damaged rail lines and caused extensive landslides on bluffs. It killed 13 people and was felt as far away as Orange County.Since the Easter Sunday earthquake of 2010 that hit along the California-Mexico border, there have been 14 earthquakes of magnitude 5 or greater in Southern California. Hauksson estimated that perhaps about half of them were felt in Los Angeles.
A magnitude 4.4 earthquake, the strongest in the United Kingdom for ten years, occurs at Swansea.