It was the biggest earthquake to hit Britain in nearly a decade, measuring 3.9 on the Richter Scale as it sent shockwaves across Scarborough from the North Sea.

But while the 2008 earthquake in Market Rasen, Lincolnshire, could be felt as far away as Aberdeen, most people in the Yorkshire seaside town didn't even notice.

It made so little impact that on Twitter, people even started using the hashtag #prayforscarborough, posting pictures of toppled bins and overturned chairs.

Twitter hashtag #prayforscarborough started after last night's tremor, posted along with pictures showing hilariously minor damage such as a toppled bin and an overturned chair

It was the largest earthquake to hit Britain in nearly a decade, but it became the subject of mockery because it caused virtually no damage

The earthquake hit North Yorkshire on Tuesday evening - but most of the residents didn't even notice it

The tremor measuring 3.9 on the Richter Scale happened in the North Sea 100 miles east of Scarborough at 6.52pm, the British Geological Survey said, but it had little impact

The reaction to news stories about the quake was jovial as it seemed to have done no damage

One user joked that the town's famous seaside landmark, castle ruins, was once a Travelodge

It became clear early on that no-one was injured by the earthquake, which struck 100 miles out to sea at 6.52pm last night

One tweeted news of the tremors with a meme of a wheelie bin on the floor and the caption: 'Never forget. We will rebuild'.

Dozens tweeted news stories about the event after dramatic reports emerged, writing that there had been an earthquake 'apparently'.

Another posted a video of someone attempting to dive into the water on the beach but belly-flopping on the sand after news of the quake in the seaside town broke.

A resident was asked 'did the Earth move for you' after news of the story broke, but he replied dryly 'nothing moved here, just my tea'.

The town itself found itself at the butt of many jokes, with one joking that it caused '£11.50 worth of damage to the seafront'. Another joked: 'Local reports are that there could be up to £1.2m in improvements made to the sea front'.

Most residents joked that they had no idea the earthquake had even hit, despite it being the biggest in Britain for nearly a decade

But most residents simply reported that they had felt nothing when tweeting or asked about the quake.

One said: 'I live 50meters from the North Sea and didn't feel the 3.9 Scarborough earthquake because it was 100 miles out to sea.'

Another said: 'In case you were wondering, we never felt the earthquake. Life is just boringly normal.'

Although one person said they saw the light swing but thought it was the children playing upstairs, and another said they heard 's funny noise'.

And one person who didn't notice anything unusual happening did admit 'but I was in a spin class'.

For some it was a chance to poke fun at the seaside town in North Yorkshire, famous for its sandy beach and caravan parks

The tremor measuring 3.9 on the Richter Scale happened in the North Sea 100 miles east of Scarborough at 6.52pm, the British Geological Survey said.

The quake was the largest since a 5.2 magnitude tremor hit Market Rasen, Lincolnshire, in February 2008, which was felt as far away as Aberdeen and Ireland.

The British Isles are not at risk of widescale destruction or mass casualties from earthquakes but it is thought 20 to 30 minor movements happen each year.

The largest earthquake ever recorded in the UK measured 6.1 and happened on Dogger Bank, in the North Sea, in 1931.

The most destructive was around Colchester, Essex, in 1884, measuring 4.6 on the Richter Scale. Some 1,200 buildings needed repairs, chimneys collapsed and walls were cracked, the British Geological Survey said.

It was 60 miles offshore but was still powerful enough to cause minor damage to buildings on the east coast of England.

The earthquake, at 6.52pm, was spotted by the monitoring station at Scarborough and showed up on the seismograph (pictured)

Scarborough seafront, which is dominated by the castle on the hilltop above. Despite the earthquake off the coast of Scarborough there were no reports of a tsunami STOCK PHOTO

The British Geological Survey said on its website that earthquakes on the east coast of the UK are relatively rare.

‘Earthquakes are almost completely absent from eastern Scotland and north east England. Similarly, Ireland is almost completely free of earthquakes. The North Sea is more active than the mainland,’ it stated.

Although far from the boundary of any tectonic plate - the giant sections of the earth’s crust on which land masses sit - the quake will still have been caused by their movement.

‘The driving forces for earthquake activity in the UK are unclear; however they include regional compression caused by motion of the Earth’s tectonic plates, and uplift resulting from the melting of the ice sheets that covered many parts of Britain thousands of years ago,’ the organisation said.