Sunday 11 January 2015

Shaky start to 2015

It's been a while since we last felt a tremor, but this morning at about 07.15 we were shaken awake by quite a significant rumble that lasted several seconds.

The epicentre of the small earthquake was at Los Montesinos, a village just a few kilometres down the road. (In the accompanying map, the location of the epicentre is indicated by the red star and El Raso, the urbanisation in which we live, by the blue star.) According to the IGM (Instituto Geográfico Nacional), the quake measured 3.2 on the Richter scale and was located at a depth of some 5Km.

The shake was very noticeable, particularly in towns such as Algorfa, Benjúzar, Orihuela, Torrevieja, Callosa, Catral, and our own Guardamar del Segura, as well as areas to the north of Murcia and Elche.

The police received plenty of calls from worried citizens, but no damage of any note has been reported up to now.

This type of tremor is quite common in this part of Spain, although one of similar size has not occurred since February 2012.