BUILDINGS rattled on the Tendring coast as a magnitude 4.2 earthquake hit Kent.

Police say there have been no injuries or damage to buildings following the quake, near Sandwich - about 60km from Clacton.

The quake was felt in Clacton, Frinton and Dovercourt at 2.52am this morning.

Seismologists at the British Geological Survey (BGS) confirmed the tremor, tweeting: "Prelim data now online ... 4.2 magnitude earthquake nr Sandwich, Kent."

Kent Police was inundated with calls about the incident.

A spokesman said: "It has now been confirmed parts of East Kent has been affected by an earthquake measuring just 4.3 on the Richter scale."

Kent Police started receiving reports of the earthquake at about 2.57am today. Police and Kent Fire and Rescue Services said they have not received any reports of structural damage or injuries.

Residents in Clacton took to Facebook and contacted the Gazette to say they had experienced the quake.

Sam Howe, from Dovercourt,  who felt the tremor, said: "I was woken to a loud rumbling noise and the house shook for a few seconds.

"I actually thought I'd imagined it until I saw the news."

Gary Crouch, of Frinton, said: "I felt the whole house shake. It was very bizarre - I've never experienced anything like that before."

Rhonda Stevenson, of Clacton, said: "I heard a heavy rumbling for about ten seconds and then everything shook. It was scary."

Siobhan Coffey, of Oxford Road, Clacton, added: "I thought someone was in my flat."

To put the quake into perspective, the British Geological Survey said the tremor was about 260,000 times smaller than the 7.8 magnitude that hit Nepal last month.

David Galloway, a seismologist with the BGS, said: "The whole of the UK is criss-crossed by thousands of fault lines but most of them are at depth.

"This means we do not pinpoint a specific earthquake to a specific fault because even if a location is a few hundred metres off it could have been a completely different fault.

"Fortunately we do not live on the plate edges - for example the San Andreas fault in California can actually be seen at the surface, but the faults in the UK are blind and most earthquakes happen at a depth of between 5km and 25km.

"Earthquakes happen all over the UK - we get some 200 a year on average. One of the scale of this morning's only happen every two or three years."

The most damaging quake to hit the UK for several centuries was the Colchester earthquake of 1884, which has a magnitude of 4.6. It caused considerable damage to churches, including the top of a spire falling down.

Did you feel the earthquake? Email james.dwan@nqe.com or leave your comments below.