Minor quake shakes north Clare

THE first earthquake in the west of Ireland since records began occurred in north Clare earlier this week.

The tremor was ten times more powerful than the tremor which occurred in Co Donegal earlier this year, according to Thomas Blake of the School of Cosmic Physics at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies.

Mr Blake, a seismologist, confirmed that the tremor measured 2.6 on the Richter scale. It was felt over a wide area of north Clare with residents from the Burren villages of Kilfenora, Doolin and Lisdoonvarna, and of the coastal resort of Lahinch, reporting the tremor at 11.30pm on Thursday night.