Local Twitterers reported the incident nearly 40 minutes before BBC. Here's some of the first tweets in chronological order:
wwwicked (Morecambe, U.K.) EARTHQUAKE!! #morecambe Felt the building shudder, at least. 28 Apr 2009 from TwitterFox aarmitage (Grange over Sands, U.K.) whoooa! Think we just had a mini earthquake! Did the earth move for you? 28 Apr 2009 from TweetDeck andasmith (Morecambe, U.K.) whole house just shook, scared me still shaking. earth moved for me. 28 Apr 2009 from web atl (Carnforth, U.K.) Up in Carnforth, the #earthquake felt like a big "bounce"… as if the house foundations were giving. What was it like in Lancaster? 28 Apr 2009 from Tweetie iMacstu (Yealand Redmayne, U.K.) @wwwicked #EARTHQUAKE bonkers mate!! not felt one like that for a while!! right in the city centre oposite the market 28 Apr 2009 from OutTwit in reply to wwwicked