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Walsall town centre.
Walsall town centre, which felt the effects of a 2.8 magnitude earthquake on Monday night. Photograph: Darren Staples/AFP/Getty Images
Walsall town centre, which felt the effects of a 2.8 magnitude earthquake on Monday night. Photograph: Darren Staples/AFP/Getty Images

West Midlands earthquake of 2.8 magnitude rattles Walsall

This article is more than 2 years old

Residents say quake shook their homes and was like wardrobe falling over or ‘explosion against the window’

A 2.8 magnitude earthquake struck the West Midlands late on Monday night, the British Geological Survey (BGS) said.

According to the BGS, the quake hit 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 (12-mile) radius from its epicentre, with tremors being detected by residents in Birmingham, Wolverhampton and Dudley.

Affected residents told the BGS the quake shook their homes, while one person said it “was like a wardrobe had fallen over or an explosion blast against the window”.

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 22 September 2002.

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