Earthquake in Torrevieja

The National Institute of Geology (IGN) has reported that an earthquake struck the Costa Blanca at around 4.45 this morning.

Scientists report that the activity measured 3.0 on the richter scale and measured IV on the Moment Magnitude Scale (MMS)*, and at a depth of just 11km.

The Epicentre was measured as being approx 15km to the South West of the coast of Torrevieja.

The southern Costa Blanca is no stranger to Earthquake activity. Back in May of last year two earthquakes hit the Town of Lorca, around 80km away in Murcia, causing the loss of 9 lives and significant damage to property.

In 1829 an Earthquake in Torrevieja destroyed 534 properties and claimed 400 lives. On Christmas day 1884 another earthquake hit the town, prompting speculation that such activity struck every 70 or so years and as such today's activity could perhaps be thought as being long overdue.

*Tumbit has rumaged around and found a layman's answer to the difference between the Richter and MMS scales : The Moment Magnitude Scale (MMS) was devised in 1979 by scientists who found that the Richter scale only measured the strength of an earthquake's shockwaves and not the impact that it had on the surface.

So whilst the Richter scale measures seismic waves, or vibration, the MMS measures energy, or the distance of 'slip' between the fault, and the part of the surface unaffected by the quake.

MMS is generally only used as a measurement of earthquakes that are over 3.0 on the richter scale, any less and the effects on the surafce would be too low to measure.