The West Midlands was hit with a 3.2 magnitude earthquake on Monday night, the British Geological Survey (BGS) said – and the reactions were hilarious.
According to the British Geological Survey (BGS), the quake struck the town of Walsall, near Birmingham, at a depth of seven kilometres (4.35 miles) at 10.59pm.
The service said the effects of the quake were felt in a 20km radius from its epicentre, with tremors being detected by residents in Birmingham, Wolverhampton and Dudley. Though it is not yet known whether the quake caused any damage to surrounding areas.
Residents affected by the earthquake told the BGS that it shook their homes, with one person describing it “like a wardrobe had fallen over or an explosion blast against the window”.
To describe the impact, another resident said: "My first thought was something had fallen off the back of my chair."
While one "heard a rumbling sound and vibration like a large object was rolling past" and "felt the house shake."
Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter
Another social media user added: "I was just about to go to sleep when my things on my desk started shifting and then there was a really abrupt rumble throughout the whole house,my bed, the walls everything, thought storm franklin had gone to new lengths until I googled it and seen the alert."
As expected, the "devastating" earthquake birthed a string of memes, jokes and hilarious reactions across Twitter.
Me after finding out there was an earthquake in Birmingham todaypic.twitter.com/nIH0uXDRT3— Char (@Char) 1645486683
#Birmingham acting up and starting her #earthquake era just to be messypic.twitter.com/j4WbE7hHQR— d\u00f3m #BLM \ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08 (@d\u00f3m #BLM \ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08) 1645485807
First picture revealed of the total devastation the West Midlands earthquake caused. Heartbreaking. #Earthquakepic.twitter.com/xmQi8KKViB— Sean McLachlan (@Sean McLachlan) 1645487293
Bloody hell, it\u2019s all happening tonight. Putin, World war 3, end of Covid restrictions and now an earthquake in Birminghampic.twitter.com/AzzBVk7XB4— Usman (@Usman) 1645487011
After 6 months of painstaking set up, the Birmingham Domino world record attempt ends in tragedy. \n#earthquakepic.twitter.com/2lzBUw9ZgI— Rory and Colin the House Dalek (@Rory and Colin the House Dalek) 1645486428
Current mood. #earthquake #WorldWarIIIpic.twitter.com/1ZBVUjUgme— Adam (@Adam) 1645487033
first a pandemic and now an earthquake, we are not victims we are survivors #earthquakepic.twitter.com/xTUMxwmue5— sai \u27b6-\u0359\u02da \u0f18\u2736 (@sai \u27b6-\u0359\u02da \u0f18\u2736) 1645486654
An earthquake has hit Birmingham and caused 2 million pounds worth of improvements #earthquake— Sir Alan de \u00c6rd (@Sir Alan de \u00c6rd) 1645485508
Everyone in Walsall and Birmingham in the UK coming to twitter to confirm there was an earthquake #earthquakepic.twitter.com/DXyh15TTj7— cesar (@cesar) 1645485720
Everyone in the Midlands heading to social media to find out whether an earthquake just happened or if it was just them: \n\n#earthquakepic.twitter.com/qEnV0OsC0h— Novelty Bobble (@Novelty Bobble) 1645486024
Birmingham will remember\n\n #earthquakepic.twitter.com/zrQAxswDtR— Mr Wright (@Mr Wright) 1645487434
#earthquake in the UKpic.twitter.com/ogAIuEVfG7— Drew (@Drew) 1645486753
The sheer DEVASTATION after that Birmingham #earthquake a few mins ago literally shakingpic.twitter.com/X34b2klBl2— Fraser (@Fraser) 1645485603
The BGS said the quake was approximately 13km (eight miles) east of the magnitude 4.7 Dudley earthquake, which was felt over most of England when it struck on September 22, 2002.
Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.