A magnitude 3.3 earthquake shook homes in north-west England on Wednesday evening, the British Geological Survey (BGS) said.
The earthquake, which struck shortly after 11.23pm, was felt across Lancashire and the southern Lake District, including the towns of Kendal and Ulverston, within 12 miles of the epicenter, which is believed to be at Silverdale in Lancaster, Lancashire.
Katrina Simmons, who lives in Carnforth, 7.7 km from the suspected epicenter. said she was “scared as hell” when she woke up in the middle of the night with tremors.
“I was woken up by shaking and thought someone had driven into the house,” she said.
“It was about 25–12, and I jumped straight out of bed. I live alone so it scared me terribly,” added the Spar store clerk.
“It was only when I went on Facebook this morning that I realized it was an earthquake.
“This morning a customer said all emergency services at Aldi were on standby, then they thought there might have been an explosion. Someone said they heard a helicopter circling.”
The earthquake occurred off the coast of Silverdale at a depth of 1.86 miles, according to the data. There were no immediate reports of damage.
Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service said “many residents felt or heard a loud explosion” in the Carnforth area.
Lancaster police also said they received reports of a “loud explosion” in the area.
Ms Simmons' colleague, Claire Hayles, from North Lancaster, said the force of the jolt caused the store's alarm to go off.
“I know the general manager got a call in the middle of the night because the alarm went off,” she said.
“Customers have been talking about it all morning. They thought the truck had crashed into a building or there had been an explosion in the quarry. Nobody expected it to be an earthquake.”
Lancashire Police said there was a “minor earthquake of magnitude 3.3” in the area near the Lancashire-Cumbria border.
It added: “There have been no reports of injuries or damage but we have officers in the area as well as colleagues from Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service and North West Ambulance Service.”
The Volcano Discovery website said it had received more than 1,000 reports of the earthquake, some as far away as Blackpool.
One Carnforth resident wrote on the website: “Heard a crash which turned into a loud bang. I thought my roof was collapsing or something! Very scary.”
Another, from Silverdale, wrote: “Loud banging and rattling of appliances in the house, as if something had collapsed or the chimney had fallen off. Significant enough to go out and check.”
BGS detects around 300 earthquakes in the UK each year, but only about a tenth of them are felt or heard by people.
