4.4-magnitude earthquake rattles England, Wales

Feb. 17 (UPI) -- A 4.4-magnitude earthquake struck parts of England and Wales on Saturday afternoon, the British Geological Survey said.

"Events as large as this only happen every 3-5 years in the UK," the BGS posted on Twitter.

The earthquake occurred at 2:30 p.m. Saturday at depth of 4.5 miles about 12.5 miles northeast of Swansea, according to the BGS.

No serious damage or injuries were reported but it was felt over all Wales, most of western England and as far east as London, the BGS said.

Dyfed Powys police force said it had received "an extremely high volume" of calls relating to tremors.

"I get a lot of fat wood pigeons jumping up and down on my chimney and I first of all thought the noise was them but they must have put on a heck a lot of weight to make the house shake," Louise Craig, from Connah's Quay in north Wales told the BBC.

The strongest earthquake in the past 10 years was a 5.2-magnitude earthquake that was felt in much of Britain on Feb. 27, 2008.

"An earthquake of this size, of magnitude five or thereabouts, will occur roughly every 10 to 20 years in the UK," Brian Baptie of the BG said at the time.

On Twitter, the BGS posted around 3,000 events of this size Saturday occur in the world each year.