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 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 September 22, 2002.
Birmingham Live reported that there were reports of sheds falling down and the walls of houses and flats shaking. People were also jolted in their beds, as well as experiencing deep vibrating through floors, rumbling noises, loud bangs and small tremors.
Pete Sandhu, a police inspector for Dudley East, posted on his Twitter account @DudleyInspector: "I thought someone was knocking on the window!! Just an earthquake in Dudley."
In response to his 11.39pm tweet, Amanda Dingley posted: "Shook my house in Wednesbury too, just home from a late shift and thought someone had crashed into our cars/house!"
According to the Earthquake Magnitude Scale, earthquakes with a magnitude between 2.5 and 5.4 are "often felt, but only cause minor damage". An estimated 500,000 also occur around the world every year.
