The strongest earthquake for 24 years shook the West Midlands today, waking millions abruptly from their sleep.

See also: Earthquake rocks the country – your comments

The tremor’s epicentre was in the Lincolnshire town of Market Rasen, but was felt as far away as Wales, North Scotland and Kent. In the West Midlands, 200 people rang the police.

Some told officers they thought they had heard an explosion.

People woken by the quake spoke of items falling off shelves, walls creaking and furniture shaking.

The tremor hit at around 1am and was measured at 5.2 on the Richter scale, stronger than the 2002 earthquake which centred on Dudley.

Many people went into the street to check for damage and spoke of an outbreak of bird singing immediately after the quake.

Martin White, aged 50, from Abbots Bromley, was among those woken by the earthquake.

He said: “Everything was shaking. All you could hear was rattling. I said straight away: ‘That’s an earthquake’. Even the catflap downstairs was swinging to and fro. It was quite bizarre.”

Sean Caldwell, a firefighter on duty at Wolverhampton’s Merridale Street station said: “I noticed the building started swaying, I wasn’t sure what it was but then I got a couple of text messages so I knew something had happened.” Crews attending an incident in Selly Oak, near Birmingham, reported paperwork falling from a filing cabinet and shaking walls. In Penkridge, one home developed cracks.

In Birmingham, a 31-year-old pregnant woman in the Kings Heath area suffered a panic attack because she was so worried about the earthquake and was treated by paramedics. West Midlands Police spokesman Sarah Astbury said: “We had around 200 emergency calls between 1am and 3am but there are no reports of any injuries.”

In Barnsley, a 19-year-old man suffered a broken pelvis when masonry crashed into his bedroom during the quake.

Student David Bates was watching television in the attic of his home when the tremor struck.

His father Paul said he was awoken by a deep rumble which was then followed by shouts from his son upstairs.

More reports and reaction in Wednesday’s Express & Star.