BY AMY ROSE HARTE
NORTH Donegal was buzzing with speculation yesterday (Thursday) that a mini-tremor was to blame for waking thousands of terrified locals out of their sleep.
The tremor was reported to have struck the region at around 2.46am on Thursday , and was felt right across parts of Inishowen, Fanad, Rosskill and Carrigart, stretching as far west as Gweedore.
Many locals were terrified by the ordeal, with many reporting that it caused their walls and windows to tremble violently. It is widely believed that a massive earthquake which struck Norway at exactly the same time on Thursday is the most likely cause of the tremor which has drawn huge local interest since news of the 'big shake' first spread.
John McFadden, who lives between Kerrykeel and Glenvar, said the tremor was "extremely frightening" and lasted around three seconds.
"Myself and my wife woke up to feel the house shaking, the windows shaking and the roof rattling. There was a dead silence afterwards and then it was followed by a big rush of wind. It definitely wasn't thunder, thunder is a different noise altogether. This was more of a shaking and vibrating sensation," he said.
Rathmullan Post Office was buzzing with locals yesterday trying to work out what jolted their homes. Angela Crerand, who runs the Post Office, said most customers believe the Norwegian quake was the most likely cause.
"There's been quite a lot of people in saying they did hear something alright," she told the Donegal News.
"I was woken up myself but I just went back to sleep as I thought it was thunder. Quite a few people from Buncrana, Rathmullan, Fanad and even round as far as Gweedore who were up at the time say they heard it.
"Some people were saying it could have been the Americans shooting down the satellite from orbit yesterday but they've discounted that now. Apparently there was an earthquake in Norway and that probably is what may have caused the tremor to be felt here because we share the same rock structure."
The last tremors to hit the county took place in the early 1990s, when two tremors struck Inishowen along the Lennan fault line which is in-shore. A series of earthquake faultlines criss-cross the county, including one from Glenvar to Buncrana.
A Norwegian news agency reported that a region close to the Arctice Circle was struck by its largest earthquake early on Thursday, measuring 6.2 on the Richter scale.
Hugh Daly from the Met Eireann Forecasting Division said they had not pinpointed any unusual weather phenomenon like thunder in Donegal on Thursday.
"Americans were shooting down a satellite that went off orbit so that could be one explanation. There might have been some wreckage and maybe a piece landed in Donegal, who knows?
"As for explosives or roadworks, for those to be going on during such anti-social hours would be highly unusual. Whatever it was, it wasn't weather," he added.
A geophyscist, Professor John McCloskey, also said the tremor was most likely resulting from the earthquake in Norway.
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