QUAKE SHAKES UP LOS MONTESINOS

Once again the Vega Baja suffered a minor earthquake last Thursday morning which, according to the National Geographic Institute (IGN), had its epicentre just southeast of Los Montesinos with a magnitude of 2.7.

The tremor was said to be twelve kilometres deep and felt in Los Montesinos as well as in nearby towns of Rojales, Benijófar, Almoradí, Dolores, Daya Nueva and Torrevieja

The IGN catalogued the quake as intensity IV, the level at which you would be expected to feel the tremor as well as it causing minor damage to household, crockery, glassware and the like.

Manuel Regueiro, the president of the Colegio Oficial de Geólogos (ICOG), has warned that Spain may be due a major earthquake soon, if statistics of history and monitoring are anything to go by. 

Statistically, Spain has suffered a major, destructive earthquake every 70 years, but as the last one was at Arenas del Rey (Granada), on Christmas Day in 1884, the risk of reoccurrence may be increasing with every day that passes.

The southern Iberian Peninsula is an area between the Eurasian Plate and the African plate, the plate being in the middle of the Alborán Sea, concentrating the highest rate of earthquakes. In addition, particularly high-risk areas are the provinces of Málaga, Almería, Granada and Murcia.

Of the twelve major earthquakes that have occurred in Spain in the last 600 years, the worst recorded quake took place in 1829 in Torrevieja (Alicante), resulting in most of the area being destroyed and leaving 400 people dead. That earthquake displayed a magnitude of 6.9 at its highest, although there were also aftershocks with some considerable time difference apart.

Locally you have to go back to 12 Jan 2015 for a larger earthquake, which also took place in Los Montesinos, when it recorded a magnitude of 3.3.

RECENT EARTHQUAKES IN THE REGION
12 Jan 2015: Los Montesinos, 3.3 magnitude
27 February 2016: Santa Pola 2.7 magnitude
21 March: Crevillente 1.9 magnitude
17 April: El Campello 1.9 magnitude
17 April: San Miguel 1.6 magnitude
20 April: Santa Pola 2.2 magnitude
22 April: Totana, Murcia 2.2 magnitude
26 April: Torrevieja 1.6 magnitude
8 June: Alhama Murcia 2.5 magnitude