AT least three people suffered minor injuries on Tuesday morning after Granada was rocked by its second significant earthquake in just three days.
Residents poured onto the streets when a 4.8-magnitude tremor struck at 10.37am local time at a depth of just five kilometres, according to the National Geographic Institute (IGN), with its epicentre in Alhendin, just south of the city.
The quake was felt strongly across Granada’s metropolitan area, particularly in the southern suburbs, with the rumble felt as far afield as Cordoba, Murcia and the Costa del Sol.
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Two significant aftershocks followed within the hour, with a 4.0-magnitude tremor centred on Churriana de la Vega at 10.53am, followed by a 4.2 shock in Alhendin at 11.34am.
Video footage shared by locals on social media shows extensive damage to some vehicles and buildings after the earthquake.
Emergency services received more than 50 calls reporting cracks and falling debris across the region, with fire crews mobilised to inspect affected buildings, while Granada’s metro system imposed strict speed limits of 30km/h as a safety precaution.
Elsewhere, the Alhambra’s governing body evacuated the Nasrid Palaces and the Alcazaba while specialists assessed potential structural damage.
Visits to other areas of the iconic fortress, such as the Partal gardens and the Generalife, continued as normal.
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Granada’s provincial council also shut all its administrative buildings, museums and the Armilla sports complex.
Tuesday’s earthquake comes just days after another 4.8-magnitude tremor struck in the early hours of Saturday, also centred on Alhendin, prompting Andalucia’s regional government to activate its seismic emergency plan.
No injuries were reported on that occasion, although falling debris damaged vehicles and buildings, while several people had to be rescued from broken lifts.
Authorities have urged residents to remain calm, avoid damaged buildings and follow only official sources of information as seismic activity continues to be monitored.
“I am still shaking. I have guitars pinned to my wall and I could see them swinging,” a local resident told the Olive Press.
Another resident posted on X: “This one was insane. What a massive shake I just felt – everything trembled.”
Granada is one of the most seismically active areas on the Iberian Peninsula, regularly experiencing shallow earthquakes of low to moderate magnitude.
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The tremors are a result of Andalucia’s proximity to the boundary between the Eurasian and African tectonic plates, which continue to converge, creating enormous stresses that are released through a network of faults running beneath the region.
Most of the earthquakes felt in Granada are relatively small, although the region has experienced some major tremors throughout history.
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That includes a magnitude-7.8 earthquake in 1954 and a 6.3 quake in 2010, although these caused no damage because their epicentres were located at extreme depths below the earth’s crust.
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