Staffordshire earthquake causes houses to shake

The epicentre was 7.3km below the village of Tean, according to the British Geological Survey

Aerial view of the Hanley area in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire. Alamy Stock

People in Staffordshire described how their houses rumbled and shook after the area was hit by a 3.3-magnitude earthquake on Wednesday.

The epicentre was 7.3km below the village of Tean near Stoke, according to the British Geological Survey (BGS).

It is the largest of 21 earthquakes to hit the UK in the past two months, beating two 1.8-magnitude tremors felt on the Isle of Mull in May.

But it falls some way short of the record earthquake in the UK, which the BGS records as a 6.1-magnitude tremor in the North Sea, about 120km north-east of Great Yarmouth, on June 7, 1931.

Filey felt the strongest effects of that earthquake, resulting in the rotation of a church spire. It was, however, felt as far away as Surrey, Norway, Denmark and Germany.

The BGS said it had received reports from the area on Wednesday night, mainly from within 20km of the epicentre, describing "an initial rumbling, then a bang" with what "felt more like a shunt, like something had hit something".

One resident of the area said he heard a “tiny rumble” that got bigger.

“Was using my computer and heard a tiny rumble sound that got bigger and a sudden shaking under my feet. Its either [an] earthquake or a HUGE explosion. It felt like a small quake,” he wrote on Twitter.

Local councillor for the area, David Williams, said “quite a few people” felt it.

Writing on Twitter, he said: “Looks like quite a lot of reports coming in,” he added. “18km SE of the city.”

Mark Begg, 30, said he was at home in Uttoxeter when he felt "a very large shake".

He said he checked "around the house to see if I could see anything" and "after noticing there were no signs of damage I concluded it was most likely a mini earthquake".

Tom, 38, in Cheadle, Staffordshire, said: "I was sitting watching an episode of Only Connect with my wife on YouTube and as we opened another bottle of wine the whole house shook.

"I thought either one of the children had fallen out of bed or something else had happened."

The BGS says it detects and locates between 200 and 300 earthquakes in the UK each year.

Between 20 and 30 earthquakes are felt by people every year, while the others are recorded only by sensitive instruments.

Experts say earthquakes below a magnitude of 2 can only be detected by instruments, while anything from 2 to 2.9 may cause hanging objects to swing.

Anything between the magnitude of 3 and 3.9 creates tremors that are comparable to the vibrations of a passing lorry.

Larger quakes which register between 4 and 4.9 may break windows or cause small or unstable objects to fall.