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At 0818 Saturday 28th April a 4.7 Earthquake has hit Folkstone, Kent in the UK.
There is some minor structural damage, such as chimneys affected and plaster off walls, + bottles etc falling off shelves. The Fire & Rescue Teams have sprung into action and specialist UKFSART USAR Teams have attended.The epicentre was close to the Local Fire & Rescue Station. Reports are that about 1000 people are without power, although this could be a planned cut off to minimise fires. There have been some reports of gas smells. There are no reported injuries.

WHY: “When search and rescue teams attend a disaster site it is essential that we are informed with as much local information as possible. InTERRAgate will provide us with that knowledge, ensuring that we can maximise our effectiveness and safety in any immediate post-disaster situation. In addition, inTERRAgate will allow the international rescue response community to proactively prepare for specific hotspots in co-operation with host country authorities and agencies.”

inTERRAgate held its launch on the 22nd of March 2007 at the Grange City hotel in London. The event was attended by a wide range of industry and research professionals from across the city and the UK.

inTERRAgate recently gave a presentation on our involvement in the COGSS project (Coalition for Global School Safety) - which is hosted on the inTERRAgate site - at the IDRC in Davos, Switzerland.

The presentation focused on data sharing and co-ordination through the inTERRAgate and COGSS projects, and demonstrated how users would be able to submit their information into the databases.

inTERRAgate recently exhibited a poster on the project at the UN-ISDR Third Early Warning Conference held in Bonn, Germany from the 27th - 29th March 2006.