South Wales earthquake: Man living in epicentre thought something had collapsed on home

A man living through the epicentre of an earthquake that rocked south Wales yesterday thought something had collapsed on his home.

A 3.7 magnitude earthquake shook the country Friday night shortly before midnight, with the epicentre, according to the US Geological Survey, in the rural area of Llangenny.

Peter Lusted, lives near Crickhowell, south Wales, supposedly just metres from the quake's epicentre and he has told how he feared his home “was going to cave in”.

The 76 year old said: "I was watching a film ⁠— I can't remember the name, an old black and white job with Burt Lancaster ⁠— and my wife Elaine was asleep in bed.

"All of a sudden it was like something collapsed onto the house. There was a huge rumble and it felt like it was going to cave in."

Peter Lusted's home is thought to be just metres from the epicentre of the quake (Media Wales)

The retired bookbinder and firefighter said he feared there had been an explosion or thought a tree might have fallen outside.

He felt his home vibrate for a few seconds during the earthquake.

WalesOnline reported Peter added: "I thought, 'What the hell?' My missus shouted, 'What's that?' I came running in and said, 'I haven't got a clue.'"

The couple's dog, a Jack Russell called Polly, was "all over the place" and Peter went outside with a torch "to see if anything had fallen or if there'd been an explosion".

But there was no evidence of such destruction so he went to bed and checked the news and only then did he learn there had been an earthquake.

Peter went outside to investigate after feeling the tremor (Media Wales)

According to the British Geological Survey the epicentre was 1.8 miles under the Earth's surface.

On average Britain only gets about one earthquake with as high a magnitude each year.

Since the tremor, Peter, who has lived in the house for 40 years, has noticed two cracks outside the wall which he believes could have been caused by the quake - but he admitted they may have been there before.

Before the property was rebuilt three years ago, the home was an old cottage that Peter believes would have been more vulnerable to the quake.

He added that he remembered an earthquake from around 30 years ago which felt similarly severe and believes the epicentre of that one was also nearby, though it did not damage the home.

Tremors were felt as far as 100 miles from the epicentre.