At 8.18am on Saturday, April 28, 2007, an earthquake struck in the unlikeliest of places – Folkestone.

Homes shook, chimneys cracked, clocks stopped and people inside their homes or offices were terrified by the noise and the short but sharp burst of tremors.

It was an occasion that would make headlines across the country and further afield, and one year on the memory of the phenomenon is still painfully clear in some residents' minds.

Father Stephen Bould was celebrating Mass with his congregation at St Peter's Church in Harbour Street, when the earthquake struck.

The quake not only badly damaged the church was but also uncovered other underlying problems with the building, which are still being paid for.

Father Bould said: "Quite a lot of the south transept fell down - the top part of the wall fell down leaving a hole. Because churches tend to have an inner and outer skin filled with rubble, what fell down was only the outer skin.

"The building moved from north to south…it is only out by a minimal amount but the beams are all loosened. In the process of fixing them we found more problems."

While the church's insurers have paid for the earthquake damage, the problems the quake unveiled were not covered and the church is awaiting the final reckoning.

The worst damage occurred within an area of two square miles in east Folkestone. Homes in five streets were evacuated due to serious damage, and in all the district council received reports of damage and loss of power to more than 1,500 properties.

Luckily there was only one serious casualty as a result of the quake - a 30-year-old woman was taken to hospital with minor head and neck injuries.

~ The day the earth shook - how Kent Online covered the drama >>>

But anyone still fearful of a repeat of the natural 'disaster' can rest easy, according to seismologist with the British Geological Survey, Lars Ottemoller.

He said: "I would not expect another earthquake for some time. The time scale could be hundreds or thousands of years.

"However, there is a fault line under the town, so we cannot rule it out. There is always some risk."

An earthquake is a sudden release of energy in the Earth’s crust and when the pressure exceeds the strength of the rock, it bursts along an existing or new fault plane.

Analysis has shown that the epicentre was less than one kilometre east of Folkestone, at an approximate depth of around two kilometres.

There are between 100 and 200 small earthquakes in the UK each year, but of these only around 20 are of a scale that can be felt by people.