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EARTHQUAKES

Central Spain rumbles as earthquake hits

An earthquake with a magnitute measuring 5.4 on the Richter scale was felt from Madrid to Murcia on Monday afternoon.

Spain´s National Geographic Institute said the epicenter was near Ossa de Montiel, a town near Albacete in the region of Castille-La Mancha and occurred at 17:16. The quake struck at a depth of between 10 and 14.8 kilometres. 

Photo: Instituto Geográfico Nacional 

The tremor was felt in the office of The Local in Spain´s capital. Desks wobbled, and the leaves on the office plant trembled.

The national police sent out a twitter message urging calm. “If you have felt your house or office shaking, don´t be alarmed. It´s not just your building. A small earthquake has affected the central zone of Spain.”

The vibrations were felt across Spain from Cordoba in the south to Valencia in the east.

Victor Sanchiz wrote on The Local Facebook page to say he felt the quake in Valencia while Ken Burchill wrote to tell us he felt in Cordoba. It was even detected as far north as Valladolid, resident Dianne Winsor told us.

While Spain is not known to be particularly prone to seismic activity, ten people died in a quake centred on the town of Lorca in Murcia in May 2011. In 2012, a study published in the Geological Society of America Bulletin said a little-known fault line in south-eastern Spain had led to quakes of up to magnitude 7 thousands of years ago, and could again.

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