Teesside residents describe 'shaking' as early morning earthquake hits north-east England

An early morning earthquake woke people up in the north-east of England, as a small tremor shook Teesside.

The 2.8 magnitude quake hit near Alberto Street in Stockton-on-Tees in County Durham at around 5.56am on Thursday, according to the United States Geological Survey.

Residents reported being woken up by the small earthquake, with one writing: "Anybody else’s house just shake before 6am? Is it an #earthquake or the apocalypse?"

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On the Richter scale, an earthquake of that size is likely to be felt by some people, but is unlikely to cause damage to any buildings.

Another person said their house was shaken by the incident, adding that it was “bad enough to wake us up”.

A fellow user said that it shook their house “as if a train went past my bedroom window”.

Another posted that it was a “strong earthquake (for England)”, saying that the “whole house shook and electricity flickered”.

“Wow that’s a first, felt an #earthquake in Stockton around 6am this morning”, one user said.

The United States Geological Survey said that 139 reports on the shake had been received from the public.