Crushed by a boulder as he lay sleeping

Nineteen-year-old David Bates went to bed in Barnsley, UK, on February 26th, and was woken up by a boulder falling on his bed and crushing his pelvis.

This was the night the biggest earthquake in the last 25 years hit the UK, causing many to rouse from their sleep wondering why their bed was shaking and pictures were falling off the walls.

David however, was very unlucky as a chimney stack came crashing through the roof of his attic bedroom and fell on him - he is the only reported injury from the earthquake.

David is still in hospital awaiting sugery, and his father Paul Bates, a self-employed fabricator, says he is still unsure when his son is going to be operated on. "The two doctors looking after David are having a bit of a disagreement," says Mr. Bates, "one wants him to have a cat scan and one doesn't. Also, one wants him to have an operation and one wants him to heal naturally." The latest reports from the hospital is that David might be able to go home on Monday, although he would have to sleep downstairs.

However, more importantly to David, he might be able to attend the Barnsley versus Chelsea football match next Saturday, which his dad says is his top priority right now. "We're hoping he'll be able to go to that match", he says, "even if it's in a wheelchair."

 The Bates' house is still declared unsafe to live in, and Mr. Bates is unsure of when they will be allowed back in. "We've had the engineers round," he said, "but it's just so chaotic around here lately; I don't know when we'll get our house back." 

Mr. Bates told the BBC "look at all the chimneys around here. There are hundreds of them. How come mine had to come crashing through my roof?"

The earthquake's epicentre was Market Rasen in Lincolnshire, and it measured 5.2 on the richter scale - the biggest earthquake in a quarter of a century.

Tim Rafferty from Grimsby says he was woken up by the earthquake, but "there was no major damage to the house. [However] several things fell off a shelf above my bed and there was some damage to my sisters house down the road, where some old window-frame woodwork cracked and broke."

Caroline Wallis from Lincoln says "I was lying down watching television in the early hours when the earthquake happened, so I was perfectly conscious of what was happening around me. However,
the lights were off and the only illumination was from my laptop screen. Suddenly there was a kind of low rumbling sound and I found my bed moving from side to side and I could sense my
bookcase was trembling." It only lasted 15 seconds however and Caroline says"it was over all too quickly."

After the shaking stopped, she ran upstairs to her housemates' bedrooms and all three of them sat up late into the night, watching the news and communicating with friends and relatives via text message to make sure everyone was ok.  

Everyone in north-eastern England was affected by the earthquake in some way or another, but it may take a little longer for life to get back to normal for some families - especially the Bates family in South Yorkshire.