– I woke up to a loud noise. It sounded like someone blew something up right outside my window. Then I look out and feel the ground shaking, and then I realized it was an earthquake.
Nærbø is from Bergen, but lives in Voss.
– I was scared, because I have never experienced an earthquake before. I’ve never woken up like that. Waking up to such a loud noise before. I panicked a bit.
Isen Nærbø sent a snap shortly after the earthquake. – My friend was awake, and she had experienced exactly the same thing. She had woken up early.
Photo: private
– Lasted surprisingly long
Trygve Lyshagen Tømmerås also woke up to the earthquake.
– Suddenly I woke up to a lot of shaking. I think it shook for a very long time, so I didn’t quite understand right away what it was, says Tømmerås, who lives in Voss.
According to the European Earthquake Center (EMSC), the earthquake occurred at 04.21 and had a magnitude of 3.3. They first reported that it had a magnitude of 3.1.
The earthquake happened at Mjølfjell, east of Voss herad.
The previous earthquake in the same area and of approximately the same strength was in March 2012, reports the research foundation Norsar.
Because Tømmerås has lived in Central America before and experienced earthquakes there, he was not in doubt for long as to what he had woken up to.
– But I was surprised at how long it lasted. It lasted longer than it has done before, he says to NRK.
– So you really wake up
Tømmerås estimates that the quake lasted about one minute.
– It’s enough for you to wake up and feel it, he says.
He describes the earthquake as a dark, jamming period. And although he has previously experienced several earthquakes in Central America, he has not experienced them as strongly in Norway.
– I reckon that the rest of the village must have noticed it too. It’s something that really wakes you up, he describes.
Trygve Lyshagen Tømmerås wasn’t quite sure why he woke up at first, before he realized that it had been an earthquake.
Photo: Private
The quake could be felt over large parts of Western Norway, and NRK has spoken to several people who experienced it.
– I woke up to the bed shaking and the clinking of glass in the cupboard downstairs in the living room. I think it was disgusting, says Tove Nødseth, who lives in Sogndal.
– In the middle of the tree
Berit Marie Storheim is a senior engineer at the Department of Geosciences at the University of Bergen.
She states that last night’s earthquake is unlikely to have caused any injuries. She encourages those who notice it to report it skjelv.no.
– In a global context, this is a small earthquake. In the Norwegian context, it is like that in the middle of the tree, says Storheim.
The earthquake was first reported by a person in Vaksdal, according to Storheim. But it had an epicenter east in Voss herad.
– This is an area that has earthquakes from time to time, she says.
Several exposed areas
Several areas in Norway are particularly vulnerable to earthquakes, including the coast outside Western Norway.
In addition, Nordland and the area around the Oslofjord are extra exposed.
The researchers have tried to find out why there is so much earthquake activity in these areas. It probably has to do with weak zones in the earth’s crust in some areas.
Although earthquakes are not entirely unusual in Norway, most are so weak that they are not a danger to anyone.
An earthquake off the coast of Helgeland in Nordland in 1819 is probably the largest in Norwegian history. Afterwards, it was measured at 5.8 in strength.
Published 29/04/2024, at 05.19 Updated 29.04.2024, at 11.08