AN earthquake measuring 3.6 on the Richter scale woke residents in West Devon and South East Cornwall in the early hours of last Friday.

Bob Sawyer from Chilsworthy said he heard it distinctly and felt the shock for a second and a half.

'There was a deep penetrative vibration. Some people in the area heard and felt it and some didn't.'

Calstock resident Christina Coleman felt the house and bed shake and initially thought it was a nightmare, but then that it might be something to do with the mines. Christina's partner, Robert Leusby, however, said he had 'slept through the whole thing'.

The thought of activity in the mines occurred to several other villagers who felt the quake, as it did to Gunnislake residents who were aware of something strange happening.

Jenny Smith, postmistress at Buckland, had not heard anything herself, but said several people in the village had. 'But none of them realised it was an earthquake,' she added. And in Bere Alston, the locals who did notice anything put it down to thunder.

Graham Taylor, from Plymouth University's Department of Geology, said there were between 150 and 200 minor quakes in Britain every year, of which only about one a month were felt. There have been 15 to 20 in the last couple of months, some bigger than last Friday's.

'The epicentre was in the Bristol Channel, 25 miles west of Bude and it was the largest tremor to affect the Cornwall and Devon area since November 1996.

John Wood, press officer for Devon and Cornwall Police, said about 24 people from the area had called in to report windows rattling and to find out what was happening, but there had been no report of structural damage or injury.

l The British Geological Survey is requesting information from residents in the areas affected for their survey on the earthquake. Even if no effects were felt, this is still vital information in enabling them to draw up an isoseismal map.

There is an online form at http://www.gsrg.nmh.ac.uk/hazard/quest.htm">www.gsrg.nmh.ac.uk/hazard/quest.htm, or alternatively you can write to the organisation at British Geological Survey, Global Seismology Research Group, FREEPOST, Edinburgh, EH9 0LX.

They are also interested in co-operating with schools in affected areas who would be interested in making a class project out of plotting the local effects of the earthquake.