An Earthquake in Wales Measuring 4.2
I reside in Southend of Essex which is in the UK. The West Midlands and Wales were rocked by a common occurrence, An earthquake! Measuring 4.2 (420 BLAZE IT) on the magnitude scale.
Although it is not widely known Earthquakes around this region can regularly occur within intervals of several years or even decades. Over the past century, they have been measured lower on the Earthquake magnitude scale, the last earthquake to occur similar to this recent one was in 1906 when a recorded earthquake of 5.2 hit on the magnitude scale. This 1906 Earthquake happened in a close place to the recent one, in the South of Wales off the coast of the Talbot Port.
What's the cause?
Well in basic terms, The Terms I Understand Best :D
There are fault structures located on the topology of the planet under the crust where Wales is. A fault structure is where a volume of rock is modified or hollowed out in some sense due to the flow of rocks being moved about in a process called rock mass movement.
I live in the East and can confirm where I live is completly unaffected. Although apparently some buildings have suistained damage and a college was evacuated, these incidents where in close proximity of the epicenter.