The biggest earthquake in the UK for nearly 25 years has shaken homes across large parts of England. People in Newcastle, Yorkshire, London, Manchester, the Midlands and Norfolk and also parts of Wales, felt the tremor just before 0100 GMT.

A man suffered leg injuries when a chimney collapsed in South Yorkshire.

The British Geological Survey (BGS) said the epicentre of the 5.3 magnitude quake was near Market Rasen in Lincolnshire.

A Lincolnshire police spokeswoman said the force had received dozens of calls from residents but there were no reports of anyone in the county being injured.

Speaking from Gainsborough, Mike Thomas, chief fire officer for Lincolnshire, said crews had been called out to 50 incidents and one fire as a result of the quake.

And Justin Cowell, in Gainsborough, told BBC News that it "started as a massive shake".

"People had come out into the street. It seemed the whole town had woken up."

 One man has been injured but structural damage is not severe

Tom Edwards, from Heckington, Lincolnshire, said he heard a noise like "an underground train and an enormous roar".

"I thought I was probably going to get killed."

Dr Brian Baptie, of the BGS, said: "An earthquake of this size, of magnitude five or thereabouts, will occur roughly every 10 to 20 years in the UK."

The BGS recorded an aftershock with a magnitude of 1.8 at about 0400 GMT.

The main 10-second quake, which struck at 0056 GMT at a depth of 15.4km (9.6 miles), was the biggest recorded example since one with a magnitude of 5.4 struck north Wales in 1984.

Dr Baptie said: "The largest earthquake that we know about that has struck the UK was about 100km off the east coast of England on the Dogger Bank and it had a magnitude of 6.1.

"So we can get these kind of moderate to significant earthquakes of this size but they're relatively rare."

Thousands of people from across England contacted the BBC to described how their homes shook during the tremor.

Jemma Harrison, 22, in Bury, Greater Manchester, said: "It was really bad. I was fast asleep and woke up and the room was shaking and there was a loud bang and alarms were going off."

Natasha Cavey, in Tipton in the West Midlands, said: "All my cupboard doors flew open and the whole house shook, it was unreal. I can't believe it."

David in Alrewas in Staffordshire said: "The birds were flying around like it was daylight.

"It was quite severe. I experienced the Dudley one and this was more severe.

"I went outside to see if the roof had collapsed. I could see the furniture in the room moving, it was like it was on a jelly mould."

David Somerset, 41, from Driffield near Beverley in East Yorkshire, said: "I have never felt one as strong as that one before. I was in my sitting room and the grandfather clock was rattling rather violently.

I thought somebody must have kicked the door in and everything continued to rattle inside the house

Lynn Crombie, BBC reporter

"It was very strong, I felt the whole room moving."

Philip Norton, a BBC reporter for Look North in Hull, said: "Everything started wobbling.

"The windows were rattling and the blinds were visibly moving. "It sounded like the roof was coming in."

BBC reporter Lynn Crombie in Norwich said she was "absolutely terrified" and thought somebody "had driven into the side of the house".

"Then I thought somebody must have kicked the door in and everything continued to rattle inside the house," she said.

Jamil Ali in Sheffield said: "I woke up and the first thing I thought was that there were a load of burglars in the house.

"The kids were screaming and so was my wife. It was that violent you actually moved yourself."

The West Midlands was hit by an earthquake in 2002 in the Dudley area that reached a magnitude of 5.0 and one measuring 4.3 hit Folkestone in Kent last year.
 

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