Thread: Spain rocked by 2 strong earthquakes, killing at least 10

May 11, 2011

Spain rocked by 2 strong earthquakes, killing at least 4

02:21 PMPrint Share
By Douglas Stanglin, USA TODAY

Spain has been hit by two strong earthquakes in quick succession, causing major damage. Fatalities are feared, The Associated Press reports.

Update at 2:2 7 p.m. ET: Reuters quotes the mayor of Lorca as telling a radio interviewer that least four people died in the quake.

Update at 2:24 p.m. ET: The quakes struck in the Murcia region of southeast Spain.

The AP reports that an official with the Murcia regional government said the quakes had magnitudes of 4.4 and 5.2.

He placed the epicenter near the town of Lorca. The second jolt came about two hours after the first, The AP reports.

http://content.usatoday.com/communities ... e-feared/1

Strong earthquakes rattle Spain; at least 10 dead

Several buildings in southern part of country are toppled by twin temblors

updated 5 minutes ago

MADRID — Two strong earthquakes in quick succession rattled southern Spain on Wednesday, toppling buildings, cracking highways, collapsing a car tunnel and killing several people, according to officials and media reports.

The quakes, of preliminary magnitudes 4.4 and 5.3, killed at least 10 people and injured dozens in Lorca, a town of about 91,000 in the municipality of Murcia, El Pais newspaper reported, citing government officials.

Local authorities told NBC News that several buildings collapsed or sustained damage and authorities fear more victims could be trapped.

The epicenter was in the Sierra de Tercia area northeast of Lorca, El Pais reported. The quakes were felt strongly in several villages in the region.
Video: Two earthquakes, casualties reported in Spain (on this page)
Television footage showed rescue workers rushing through debris-littered streets.

The temblors opened cracks in roads and overpasses, and there were reports of cars trapped in a collapsed tunnel, according to El Pais.

Large chunks of stone and brick fell from the facade of a church in Lorca as Spanish state TV was broadcasting live from the scene.

A large church bell was also among the rubble. The broadcaster reported that schoolchildren usually gather at that spot around that time, and if it had happened 10 minutes later, a "tragedy" could have occurred.

Nervous groups of residents gathered in public places, talking about what happened and calling relatives and friends on their cell phones.

Spanish TV showed images of cars that were partially crushed by falling rubble, and large cracks in buildings.

"I felt a tremendously strong movement, followed by a lot of noise, and I was really frightened," the newspaper El Pais quoted Lorca resident Juani Avellanada as saying.

Another resident, Juana Ruiz, said her house split open with the quake and "all the furniture fell over," according to El Pais.

According to officials in Murcia, about 150 emergency workers were out assessing damage and assisting victims.

Dozens of patients in a hospital in Lorca were evacuated to facilities in other towns.
Story: Italians rattled by rumors about quake prediction
Juana Ruiz, whose home was damaged, told El Pais: "I opened the house and all the furniture had fallen."

John Bellini, a seismologist with the U.S. Geological Survey's National Earthquake Information Center in Golden, Colo., said the larger earthquake had a preliminary magnitude of 5.3 and struck 220 miles south-southeast of Madrid.

The quake was about 6 miles deep, and was preceded by the smaller one with a magnitude 4.5 in the same spot, Bellini said. He classified the bigger quake as moderate and said it could cause structural damage to older buildings and masonry.

The quakes occurred in a seismically active area near a large fault beneath the Mediterranean Sea where the European and African continents brush past each other, said USGS seismologist Julie Dutton.

The USGS said it has recorded hundreds of small quakes in the area since 1990.

Earthquakes in southern Spain are a frequent occurrence but most are so slight they cannot be felt and go unnoticed. The seismic activity is caused by the African tectonic plate pushing the European-Asian plate northward and eastward at approximately 1 centimeter every year.

Recent quakes in Murcia:
•A quake of 4.8 on Feb. 2. 1999, that caused damage to the village of Mula.
•A 4.6 quake in January 2005 in Bulla in Murcia that damaged more than 200 properties.
•A similar quake happened in August 2002, although it was slightly smaller at 4.5.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42993156/ns ... ws-europe/

11 May 2011 Last updated at 17:27 ET

Spain: Earthquake rocks Lorca, Murcia, killing 10

At least 10 people were killed after a magnitude-5.3 earthquake toppled several buildings in southern Spain near the town of Lorca, officials say.

The quake struck at a depth of just 1km (0.6 miles), some 120km south-west of Alicante, at 1850 (1650 GMT), the US Geological Survey reported.

Lines of cars lay crushed under tonnes of rubble and a hospital was evacuated as a precaution.

The quake followed a 4.4-magnitude tremor about two hours earlier.

It is not clear how many people were injured, although Spanish media say there are dozens.

Military deployed

Spanish TV captured dramatic images of a church bell tower crashing to the ground, landing just metres from a cameraman.

Shocked residents and workers rushed out of buildings and gathered in squares, parks and open spaces. Old buildings were badly damaged.

As night fell many people were still too afraid to return to their homes.

"The whole of the centre of Lorca has been seriously damaged," a delegate from the regional government of Murcia told national radio.

"There are thousands of very disorientated people."

A doctor told the online edition of El Pais that she and her colleagues went into the streets and treated people with serious injuries, many of them "unconscious".


"The ambulances could not reach them. They took more than 40 minutes," she said.

Angel Dominguez, a translator based in Lorca, tweeted: "A friend of ours was in the main avenue of Lorca - she saw debris falling down on pedestrians. The poor girl was shocked."

The earthquakes were felt over a wide area.

"Unfortunately, we can confirm... deaths due to cave-ins and falling debris," Lorca Mayor Francisco Jodar told radio station Ser.

"We are trying to find out if there are people inside the collapsed houses," he added.

A number of aftershocks have been felt in the region after Wednesday's quake, and authorities fear the death toll could rise.

Spain's Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has deployed emergency military units to the scene, the Spanish news agency Efe reported.

Mr Zapatero was in a meeting with Spanish King Juan Carlos when he was informed of the quake, the premier's office said in a statement.

The BBC's Sarah Rainsford in Madrid says the quake is the most serious to hit Spain in about 50 years.

Spain has hundreds of earthquakes every year but most of them are too small to be noticed.

Murcia is the country's most seismically active area and suffered tremors in 2005 and 1999.

Murcia is close to the large faultline beneath the Mediterranean Sea where the European and African continents meet.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-13368599