One plot description I saw said 'small isolated town' that would be all of Wyoming, but then I saw that it's supposed to be set in Nevada (where I live right now). Perfect spot for it, hardly a bit of vegetation for hundreds of miles in most of it, so you can really see those giant worms coming at you.

When we see an erratic driver on the road, such as someone who forgets to turn off their turn signal, we'll tell the other of us 'Nerd Alert' to make sure we are both aware there could be a car accident or evasive driving coming up. If we are ever driving along and see a giant crack develop in the pavement ahead, I will say 'Quake Alert' so as to differentiate it. There are vast stretches of no civilization or plant life out here in the west, and I've heard that an earth tremor can be seen moving across the landscape, if there was an earth tremor. That's a dream of mine, to be driving across Wyoming and see one go by, so long as my car doesn't get swallowed up. That'd be awkward.

Beneath Britain the Earth's crust is criss crossed with ancient cracks, or fault lines, which are constantly under stress. Occasionally, that stress becomes so high that the rock either side of a fault line suddenly slips, releasing shock waves felt across the country as an earthquake. Tremors are not uncommon in Britain. Each year, the British Geological Survey (BGS) records between 200 to 300 separate events. Earthquakes of magnitude five or more, like that which struck Market Rasen, happen every eight years or so.

Large earthquakes occur in parts of the world where the giant tectonic plates that make up the Earth's crust crunch into one another. But in Britain, earthquakes are driven by the enormous stresses inflicted by the shifting Eurasian plate in the Atlantic Ocean. This "continental drift" squeezes Britain from the north-west, building up stresses in the crust only relieved by slippage at fault lines. Earthquakes are more common in the west of Britain, with north-west Scotland, Wales, and the West Midlands the most active.

The most famous fault line, the Great Glen fault, runs along the length of the Great Glen from south-west to north-east Scotland, cutting through Loch Ness. Another is the Church Stretton fault line in Shropshire. Dave Rothery, an earth scientist at the Open University, said the amount of earth movement behind yesterday's tremor was possibly no more than a couple of inches. Bill Maguire, director of the Benfield Hazard Research Centre at University College London, said: "Nowhere on the planet is entirely quake-free, and while the UK does not experience major earthquakes like that which struck Sumatra in 2004, small quakes occur every few years. These rarely do more than dislodge a few chimneys or crack the odd wall."

The largest earthquake to strike Britain occurred in 1931 in the North Sea. It was 10 times stronger than yesterday's earthquake and produced a small tsunami. Its impact was felt throughout the UK and in northern Europe.