Shortly after ten thirty in the morning, Carlos Assiego was talking on the phone with a client when the Christmas tree he has in his home began to shake. Also a chair. explains the man from Malaga. Until he hung up the phone and saw several WhatsApp messages where his friends commented on what, in reality, had been an earthquake. This 54-year-old musician lives in a first floor north of the center of Malaga and, like him, a good part of the residents in the Andalusian province, as well as Seville, Granada, Córdoba and Extremadura, . There is no material or personal damage, as reported by the , which has activated the pre-emergency phase of its seismic risk plan, just in case.
It occurred at a depth of 79 kilometers under the Mediterranean, in an area of the coast near Las Lagunas, a town belonging to . “Its intensity of 4.9 is already considerable, of moderate seismicity, but because it is so deep the waves dissipate,” explains Luis Cabañas, technician at the (IGN). “If it had been on the surface, it would probably have caused damage to a building, but with the epicenter so deep no damage has been caused,” says the specialist. Although minutes later a small earthquake was recorded again near Zafarraya – north of the Axarquía region – of 1.9 intensity, Cabañas does not believe that the phenomena are related. “In that area, several like that are recorded practically every day,” he says. In fact, according to IGN, there have been half a dozen in Malaga territory or so far this week.
The one this Friday morning lasted just a few seconds, but the tremor was very noticeable in the province of Malaga, especially in Estepona to the west and Nerja to the east, as well as the coast of Granada—Motril—and in areas of Córdoba with less intensity. Also in the Guadalquivir Valley, the Sierra Norte of Seville or even in Extremadura, in areas such as Don Benito, Mérida or Badajoz. “It has been very felt by the population,” they highlight from the public body, where they acknowledge that they have received “many” calls, as well as notifications from citizens alerting them to what happened.
Another of those who has felt them is the Scot James O’Reilly, who has lived for several years in the neighborhood of El Palo, east of the city of Malaga. He was downtown, with his wife, Betül O’Reilly, in a meeting with his bank manager when they felt a jolt. The professional told them that it might be the air conditioning, but soon the conversation in the office began to revolve around the earthquake. “And we already confirmed what had happened. It had been a very strong shock,” highlights the entrepreneur. “The mini earthquake that we have had right now in Malaga has put my heart in my throat,” Andrea Luque said on X (formerly Twitter), a social network to which many went to express their surprise at the movement of the earth. “I thought I was crazy until I entered Twitter and the Malaga earthquake is real,” added Paula Durán. “I thought it was a bus passing very fast,” said Manuel Poggi.
Given the flood of calls and notices that the service has received in the provinces of Málaga, Seville and Córdoba, the Minister of Health, Presidency and Emergencies of the Junta de Andalucía, Antonio Sanz, announced shortly after the earthquake the activation of the pre-emergency phase, operational situation 0, of the community’s Seismic Risk Plan in case there were subsequent aftershocks. In fact, according to the document, this means monitoring the phenomenon “and providing information to both the competent authorities in matters of civil protection and the population in general.” “We are in direct monitoring,” stressed Sanz, who insisted on the absence of material or personal damage.
