SHAKEN Huddersfield folk have relived their experiences of the “big quake”.

The Examiner’s phone lines were jammed yesterday by people telling their tales of one of the strongest tremors ever to hit England.

Mum-of-five Liz Higgins, of Town Avenue, off Leeds Road, Bradley Mills, said: “I had a feeling of impending doom.

“It seemed like the roof was rattling and my whole body felt a big vibration.

“I thought ‘I’ve got to get my kids out’. Then it stopped. It was very frightening.”

Pensioner Win Whiteley, of Stockerhead, Slaithwaite, said: “I thought I was back in the Blitz. My bed moved and my wardrobe started shaking. My clock slid off the cabinet.”

Huddersfield was more than 70 miles from the Lincolnshire epicentre of the 12.56am quake, which measured 5.2 on the Richter Scale.

But houses were rocked and sleeping householders were thrown from their beds as the earth moved in and around the town.

Bill Dyson, of Taylor Hill, said: “Our house shook like a jelly. Everything in it rattled and I thought it was going to collapse. I’ve never leapt out of bed so fast.”

Colin Rawcliffe, 68, was in bed chatting to wife Anita at their home in Sheardale, Honley.

He said: “The tremor came over the house like a wave. It was almost like all the roof joists were lifting. It was a weird motion. I've never experienced anything like that before.”

Alec Wilkinson, of Plains Lane, Marsden, said: “We were in bed and the room just shook. There was a roaring sound and I thought: ‘What the hell’s that?’”

Alexander Mullen, 51, of Winton Street, Lockwood, was working on his computer when the quake hit.

He said: “Something shook the whole house. We live near the train lines and we occasionally hear a bit of a rumble, but this was 20 times stronger than that. It was a strange and scary feeling.”

Gemma Lee, 21, a student and resident at Aspley Hall, said: “The whole building shook. I sat there frozen, not knowing what was going on. Being on the sixth floor it really wobbled for about 20 seconds.”

Rachael Burke, 23, from Moldgreen, was thrown out of bed.

“The bed shook violently and before I knew what was going on I was on the floor,” she said. “Being half-asleep I tried to convince my housemate it was just the wind.”

There are about 200 earthquakes in the UK each year, but only a small number can be felt by people.

Yesterday’s earthquake, classed as a moderate tremor, was the biggest since 1984, when one measuring 5.4 shook the Lleyn Peninsula of North Wales.

Yesterday’s tremor was felt as far afield as Wales, Scotland and London. There was no serious damage, but David Bates, of Wombwell, Barnsley, needed hospital treatment after a chimney collapsed and fell into his bedroom.

Clr Martyn Bolt, Kirklees Council’s environment chief, said the council had emergency planning measures in case people were at risk, much the same as measures in place to deal with serious flooding.

He added: “I’m concerned because we seem to be having these occurrences on a more frequent basis.

“The Environment Agency tells us to prepare for serious floods once every 100 years. Yet we’ve had two in the last months, so we can’t take it lightly.

“We need to be asking if building standards are what they need to be.”