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'Frightening'
In south Wales, people in Cardiff, Newport, Caerphilly, the Vale of Glamorgan and as far west as Swansea, felt the powerful shockwaves.
Callers to the BBC reported doors slamming and windows rattling.
Richard Flynn, from Oldbury in the West Midlands, said: "The house started shaking quite violently at about 1a.m.. All the power was cut off and seemed to be so for about a five-mile radius."
Power was restored after about 20 minutes.
World's worst recorded quakes
9.5 Chile 1960, killed 2,000
8.3 California 1906, killed 3,000
8.3 China 1976, killed 240,000
7.9 India 2001, killed 25,000
Bill Wilson, who was duty inspector for Merseyside Police at the time of the tremor, said he took up to 30 calls from people who initially thought there was an intruder in their home or there had been an explosion.
"I've never had to take calls like this and some people I rang up myself thought I was winding them up but I had to assure them that I was serious."
Between 150 and 200 quakes occur in Britain each year, but only 10% are strong enough to be felt.
Buildings are deemed to be at risk from a quake over 5 on the Richter scale, according to the Environment Agency.
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