December 16th, 6.20 AM: Denmark Hit by Earthquake!

I woke up today because someone was shaking me, rolling me from side to side in my sleep, nay, something. The furniture around me made cracking and bumping sounds, and at first I reasoned that I was dreaming that someone was waking me up. I soon realized that I was actually quite awake.

My rolling and turning in the bed was caused by the fact that the floor itself was moving beneath me in what - at 4.7 richter - was one of the more powerful earthquakes ever recorded in Denmark. There have been no reports of serious material damage (Jyllands-Posten has a report in english).

[Technically speaking the epicentre was in Sweden, but earthquakes know no boundaries.]

The last time a similar earthquake was felt was in 1985. An earthquake in the northern part of the Kattegat Sea in 1904 had an estimated magnitude of 5.5. Estimated, because seismic activity in Denmark has only been recorded in a reliable way since 1927.

Earlier Earthquakes in Danish History

On April 3rd, 1841, a very strong earthquake was experienced around 4.30 pm in the district of Thy [map] . In Arup Church the local priest, a certain mr. Obel, was marrying mr Anders Ingvardsen and miss Bodil Marie Jensdatter, when suddenly the entire church was shook and moved, as if the Lord himself were trying to prevent the marriage. The church tower was wobbling dangerously, but as the attending public fled from the church, the good priest and the young couple carried on the with ceremony. Afterwards he made a dry remark in the church register that a ‘marriage was conducted in Arup Church during an earthquake’ on that day. The church tower eventually collapsed during restoration works around 1920 and had to be rebuilt.

Going further back, Annales Essenbecenses (da. Essenbæk-årbogen) reports an earthquake on November 9th in AD 1349 (i.e. two nights before the day of St. Martin) - apparently thats the only remarkable happening in Danish history that year?

One of the most dramatic seismic events in recent Danish prehistory must have been the huge earthquake in Kattegat around 2.500 BC during which the entire island of Læsø was swallowed by the sea, not to reappear for another 1500 years. The Danish State Geologist Jens Morten Hansen has conducted comprehensive research which shows that the entire island tipped over and sank into the sea during the violent movements of the ground.

Luckily, the earthquake this morning was a wee bit softer.