Could it happen here?

Could a magnitude 9 earthquake and tsunami like the one that struck Japan affect the British Isles? The short answer is no. Huge mega-thrust earthquakes like this only happen at plate boundary subduction zones where one of the Earth’s tectonic plates is being pushed down, or subducted, beneath another. Places where this happens include Japan, Sumatra and South America all of which have had earthquakes of magnitude 8.5 or greater in the last few years that have resulted in tsunami. The British Isles sits in the middle of a tectonic plate, Eurasia.