World review

Just before 1 a.m. this morning I was on the internet, when I felt a strange kind of wobble.  I didn’t think much of it at the time, as I presumed - rather oddly! - that it was my housemate just jumping up and down in his room next door. 

I turned on Breakfast just after 7am to catch Graham Satchell’s package about Jersey as I had worked on it yesterday.  I was more than surprised when my wobble was being described as a “significant” earthquake - the largest since 1984.  The cost of the damage is likely to be around the £10m mark, while one injury has been reported so far.

It hit 5.2 on the Richter scale and the epicentre was near Market Rasen in Lincolnshire.  The British Geological Survey (BGS) initially gave the magnitude for the 12.56am earthquake as 5.3 on the Richter scale but has now said it was closer to 5.2.

There are around 200 earthquakes in the UK every year - an eighth of which are felt by residents.  The BGS said earthquakes of this magnitude occur in mainland UK around every three decades, but are more common offshore.

My wobble is the largest since 1984, when an earthquake measuring 5.4 on the Richter scale shook the Lleyn Peninsula of north Wales, which was felt across England and Wales.

http://www.bgs.ac.uk/

http://www.bgs.ac.uk/news/Market_Rasen_Feb_27_2008_web.pdf

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7266136.stm

It had been a very busy day at work as I had to go down to Hastings to film a case study related to the Jersey story.  I interviewed Henry Campbell who said he’d been abused at the former boys home in Jersey, where police found a child’s remains in the grounds.  He had a stroke three years ago and as a result his speech is badly affected - he is also traumatised by the media coverage.  His stepdaughter Helen was there, but she was unaware of the abuse he claims to have experienced. 

The interview process I adopted was slow and gentle due to the man’s emotional state, his speech difficulties and the sensitive nature of the story.  Ethically, I did not want to push him too far as stroke victims can be more prone to emotional ups and downs, depression, sadness and anxiety than others.

The material had to be fed from the Tunbridge Wells hub to London and Jersey for editing.  The footage was for only Breakfast originally, but the Ten o’clock news wanted some of it because I had interior shots of the home in Jersey.  Henry had gone back there 10 years ago and filmed the home as a means to exorcise his demons.  It is the only interior footage the BBC has of the home. 

I arrived back in London just before midnight after a 14 hour shift.  It was satisfying to see some of the material used for Graham’s and Gavin Hewitt’s packages, as the interview had been quite demanding psychologically and technically.

http://www.stroke.org.uk/

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/jersey/7266238.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/hi/newsbeat/newsid_7264000/7264430.stm

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/02/27/jersey.orphanage/index.html#cnnSTCVideo

http://www.yha.org.uk/find-accommodation/south-west-england/hostels/jersey/index.aspx