At the epicentre

Market Rasen, Lincolnshire, was at the epicentre of yesterday’s quake. Local people said they were woken by a roaring sound similar to a low-flying aircraft while others thought a lorry had crashed into their house.

Bev Finnegan, who lives in Market Rasen, said: “The noise was really, really terrifying . . . it was so deep and rumbling. It felt like the roof was going to fall in.”

45 miles away

David Bates, 19, of Barnsley, broke his hip when a chimney fell through the ceiling of his attic bedroom. “Everything started shaking and I didn’t know why,” he said. “Then all of a sudden it went dark and there was a noise like smashing plates as something came crashing through the ceiling. This big piece of concrete fell on me and landed on my hips.”

Kleber Afonso, Mr Bates’s neighbour, described how he was working in the attic next to where Mr Bates was injured. “It all just crashed in. I just couldn’t believe it.”

80 miles away

In Stockport, a pregnant woman was thrown to the floor by the tremor. Sarah Milligan said: “The whole house was shaking so I stood up off the sofa trying to see what happened. My legs gave way. I’ve had to go to hospital to make sure the baby is OK.”

90 miles away

In Birmingham the quake alerted Grace Davis and her son Marcus to a kitchen fire, possibly saving their lives. Mr Davis, who did not have a working smoke alarm in his flat, immediately began knocking on neighbours’ doors in the six-storey block of flats. All of the residents were evacuated by the time that firefighters arrived.

In nearby Dudley, zookeepers at West Midlands Safari Park reported leopards pacing in their pens and owls hooting seconds before the quake. A keeper said: “Animals can sense things like earthquakes and some of our wild cats and owls were particularly agitated. But when the earth had finished moving, not one animal made a noise. It was deathly quiet.”

150 miles+ away

Firefighters on duty at Carlisle fire station felt the quake. Frank Davidson, the crew manager, said: “When we felt the vibration it was one of those things where you look at each other and say, ‘Did you feel that?’ ” David Rendell, the former Liberal Democrat MP for Newbury, was 300 miles south of Carlisle. “I was sitting in a chair and suddenly the whole place seemed to be moving a bit and I thought I must be getting giddy.”

In Colchester, Jamie Rolls, 38, said: “It was the strangest thing I’ve ever felt. The whole room was moving and I looked down to a glass of Coke on the table and it started bubbling up. The whole tremor lasted about 20 seconds in two separate waves.”

Emergency services were getting reports that the earthquake was felt even farther afield, in Southampton, Newcastle, London and Aberystwyth.

Mark Shone, a 29-year-old PR officer living in Chester, said: “My partner is down in London at the moment staying in Canary Wharf and he said he thought a bomb had gone off.”

If in doubt . . .

— Shut off the main gas valve only if a leak is suspected or identified by the smell of gas

— Wait for the gas company to turn it back on once the damage has been repaired

— Shut off power at the control box

— Stay away from downed lines even if the power appears to be off

— Be careful of displaced objects that may fall out on you when you open a cupboard door

— Approach chimneys with caution. They may be weakened and could topple during an aftershock

Explore UK News

• Crime News

• Education News

• Health News

• Scotland News

Times Recommends

• A vicar’s wife: ‘There is no one to fight for us’
• Every little helps at the supermarket
• Ugg or Fitflop? The battle of the boots