RESIDENTS in the county have spoken of their frightening experiences as the UK's biggest earthquake in five years hit Kent on Saturday morning.

The quake - which measured 4.3 on the Richter Scale - struck at 8.18am. The epicentre was under the Channel about 10 kilometres off Folkestone. Hundreds of buildings were affected.

Des Humphrey, aged 70, of Marshall Street, Folkestone, told how he ran for his life as bricks started to rain down from the roof. He was in the street chatting about football to a neighbour.

He said: "I didn't know what was happening. I thought to myself that the wind wasn't bad enough to be making this happen.

"We just turned and ran as the chimney pots came crashing down. It was a lucky escape. I have never known anything like it in all my life.

"It's fairly chaotic with lots of chimney pots down in Marshall Street, one house is so badly damaged that the people have had to leave."

Vic Thorogood had a terrifying and upsetting experience at his home in Canterbury Road, Folkestone.

The fire watch manager was not on duty, but was getting his family ready for a day in the sunshine when he heard a loud bang and felt the earth shake. That was the combination of the tremor and the chimney falling through the house.

He said: "It felt like a massive explosion. There was billowing black smoke. My children were in the living room and I couldn't see them. I crawled in and reached for my daughter's hand and then found my son's foot and grabbed him. We all then ran out.

"We're all really shaken. I thought we might die. It is like a war zone. The damage is really bad."

Scott Keeler was woken at his home in Folkestone by his bed shaking. He could not believe his eyes when he parted the curtains and saw his chimney pot hitting the garden.

He said: "It was raining bricks. It was a really frightening experience. We have three sons and they were very scared. One ran out in the street in his boxer shorts in fear.

"It is quite unbelievable that this could have happened in Folkestone."

Ratneswary Lingeswaran, who runs the newsagent in Canterbury Road was knocked to the ground as the tremors rattled the town.

She said: "I fell over. I was so shocked I was shaking."

After the tremors had ceased the mother of two rushed back to her home to check on her family. She found the earthquake had caused her chimney to crumble and part of the roof of their home to collapse.

The family have been told they cannot stay in the house, which they say has been declared unsafe by Kent Fire and Rescue Service.

She added: "The bricks are falling on the street. People cannot walk past. The back of the garden is full of the bricks from the roof."

Brian and Julie Powell, who live on the clifftop at Kingsdown, near Deal, said they knew immediately that the tremble had been an earthquake.

Mrs Powell said: "I used to be an air stewardess and felt the same sensations when I visited LA, where no-one took any notice as they were an everyday occurence. My husband was at school in Darjeeling in India where there were also regular earthquakes.

"So we knew what had happened. I was in bed when the windows rattled and shelves wobbled.

"The whole house shook and it was quite frightening, as in the back of your mind you think about terrorists and the fact we are so close to two ports at Ramsgate and Dover, as well as the Channel Tunnel."

Ashford resident Karina Colbeck said: "It moved the outer wall of the house, which then smacked into the sofa I was on and knocked me to the floor."

Damian Gosbee of Parker Place, Hawkinge, was preparing for bed following his nightshift at a supermarket.

He said: "Everything was shaking. I went outside and the whole street was saying that that they had felt it.

"We had a couple of glasses break and one of the windows downstairs cracked."

Peter Walker of Canterbury Road, Brabourne, said: "I was shocked. The footing of my house goes down 13 metres and yet the whole thing was still shaking. I couldn't believe it."

Geography teacher David Thomas, who lives on the outskirts of Sandwich, said: "It felt a bit like a big lorry going by, but the texture of the vibration was different and it felt like the movement was coming upwards."

John Gough, from Addelam Road, Deal, said people rushed into the street after their homes were shaken by the earth movement.

He added: "The shudder only lasted a second and it was weird to see so many coming out into the road. Everyone wondered what it was and no-one knew. Sadly it may be tragedy for someone."

Lee Wogan, of Zealand Road, Canterbury, said: "At first I thought it was people rolling around or fighting downstairs, then I realised the whole building was shaking.

"I had only just woken up so it was a bit of a headspin first thing."