Jorge Hinojosa
PEOPLE living across the Murcia region report being shaken awake when an earthquake measuring 3.3 on the Richter scale hit the area.
Residents report being awoken in their beds at 2.56am on Thursday by the mild shaking.
In the tweet above, Pepe, a resident in Murcia, quipped: “An earthquake just hit Ceuti, Murcia, Oh my god it’s tremendous, I thought someone was trying to force open my garage door. My heart is pounding.”
Spain’s National Geographic Institute (IGN) reported that although doors and windows may have rattled, there were no reports of damage or anyone being hurt..
The epicentre was in the town of Molina del Segura but it was felt in Villanueva del Río Segura, Lorquí, Ceutí, Alguazas, Alcantarilla, and in the capital Murcia itself.
It is not the first earthquake to hit the Murcia region in recent weeks as last Thursday an earthquake of a similar size was detected in nearby Alhama de Murcia.
It hit at lunchtime and prompted the precautionary evacuation of schoolchildren with 800 students and 60 staff members went out into the playground of the Valle de Leiva college.
The Murcia region is home to the Alhama fault line which is mainland Spain’s most active seismic zone.
Small tremors are very common with several logged every week, but they rarely go above two degrees on the Richter scale.
However, in 2011, an earthquake measuring 5.2 toppled buildings in the town of Lorca and caused ten deaths.
READ MORE:
- Earthquake measuring 3.2 degrees on Richter scale forces evacuation of Murcia school in Spain
- Spain’s Andalucia to put in motion ‘Drill Response 21’ a catastrophe simulation of three major emergency situations—tsunami, earthquake and floods
