Shoppers dodge falling bottles as earthquakes shake Manchester

Buildings were evacuated, workmen clung to scaffolding and supermarket shoppers dodged flying produce yesterday as a series of earthquakes shook Manchester.

Buildings were evacuated, workmen clung to scaffolding and supermarket shoppers dodged flying produce yesterday as a series of earthquakes shook Manchester.

The tremors were 45 times weaker than last month's Dudley earthquake but the profusion of quakes left the city in a state of anxiety.

The first passed off relatively quietly at 8.45am, measuring 3.2 on the Richter scale with reports of a smaller tremor measuring 2.3 minutes later. But, instead of the weaker aftershock that tends to occur after subterranean tectonic movements, a considerably larger second tremor occurred at 12.42pm. It measured 3.9 on the Richter scale – 11 times bigger than the first tremor.

Seconds later, it was followed by an earthquake measuring 3.4. The epicentre was in Beswick, one mile east of Manchester city centre.

Staff were forced to leave a 178-year-old building on King Street after cracks appeared in the floor. But one of the most disturbing experiences was for customers of the Asda Wal-Mart superstore, who dodged showers of glass as bottles came off the shelves.

Seismologists said the quakes were large by UK standards but their timing, so soon after the Dudley tremor, was a coincidence.