Nighttime Earthquakes in Southern Spain send people out on to the streets

More than half a million people living in Granada, southern Spain, experienced three earthquakes last night, all of a magnitude greater than four degrees followed by 30 smaller aftershocks.

“Several earthquakes shook Granada again tonight. I understand the concern of thousands of people. It is time to remain calm and follow the instructions of the emergency services,” said Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, on the social network Twitter.

Spanish televisions show images on social networks showing people with coats over their pyjamas who went outside in the middle of the night, despite the current curfew in the region because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The three almost consecutive earthquakes had their epicenter in the town of Santa Fé, about 10 km from Granada, and magnitude of 4.2 degrees (22:36), 4.2 (22:44) and 4.5 (22:54), according to the Spanish National Geographic Institute.

Last Saturday, a 4.4-magnitude earthquake had already been felt in the towns of Atarfe and Santa Fé.

“Since the beginning of December last year, there have been around 300 earthquakes in the region,” explains the Geographic Institute, of which about 40 were felt by the population.

The recent earthquakes only caused minimal damage, such as small cracks or falling objects (books, plates) in the epicenter, according to the institution.

The Spanish Geographical Institute explains that this seismic activity “is common” in this region, “especially within the central area of ??the Cordillera Bética”, a mountain area in southern Spain, which has the largest seismic activity in the Iberian Peninsula, due to the “convergence between the African plate and the Eurasian plate “.

Original article available in Portuguese at http://postal.pt/