The National Geographic Institute has notified that a 4.4 magnitude earthquake has occurred with an epicenter off the coast of Viveiro, at a depth of 10 km in the Cantabrian Sea, which has been noticed in A Coruña and a good part of Galicia. The earth movement was felt at 6.32 in the morning and according to the Local Police, there have been no incidents in A Coruña and its region, but there were many neighbors who felt it in their homes.
The seismologist of the National Geographic Institute, Lucía Lozano, points out that the northern zone of Galicia has registered similar earthquakes, but never bigger ones. In 2006 there was one with similar characteristics and in 2011 another more distant, because it was already produced on the high seas. It has nothing to do with what happens on La Palma. The one we have felt this morning is associated with the movement of earth faults.
The earthquake has been felt in several dozen municipalities of A Coruña and Lugo, such as the city of A Coruña, Oleiros, Sada or Ortigueira, As Pontes, Ares, Cariño, A Pobra, Miño, Cerdido, Culleredo, Fene, Ferrol, and Santiago, according to IGN data.
For its part, in the province of Lugo, among others, the earthquake has been felt in municipalities such as Xove, Baralla, Foz, Castro de Rei, Ribadeo and Viveiro.
The 112 has indicated that in the Integrated Emergency Care Center 112 Galicia several calls were recorded from A Coruña, Oleiros, Valdoviño, Irixoa, Cervo, Viveiro, Ferrol and Lugo in relation to this earthquake; however, most of the affected localities have stated that no incidents have been reported.
In fact, the mayor of Ortigueira, Juan Penabad Muras has commented, in declarations to Europa Press, that “it has been more the scare than anything else, as seen on social networks.” “No incident has been recorded. In fact, we have checked the two areas of the historic center, also that of Espasante, and nothing has been notified either,” explained the councilor.
“A scare”
However, there have been many, and from very different places, those who have claimed to have felt an earthquake that, according to IGN data, has been of “moderate magnitude” and has been located “about 50-60 kilometers from the coast to the North of Cariño “.
Due to its proximity to the epicenter, the Ferrolterra area has been one of the areas in which the earthquake has been most felt. “At around 6.30 am I felt that the bed was moving; it did not move but it did move a lot,” explains Isabel, a worker at the Antonio de Escaño de Ferrol Specialties School.
Despite the “initial shock”, Isabel Blas admits that for a moment she thought she had dreamed it, since, at home, she was the only one to feel it. The same was thought by a doctor from Oleiros who, after waking up with the tremor, thought that “it couldn’t be”, so he “turned over in bed and went back to sleep.”
Alba Vázquez, a nursing assistant at the Complexo Hospitalario Universitario de A Coruña (CHUAC), was awakened by the earthquake in the heart of the Herculean city, where she resides. “I woke up because the bed was moving, and my dog also woke up. Also, a door slammed shut, so it must have been strong,” he says.
The same tells Marta Carro, from the Carrales parish of Tabeaio (A Coruña), who recognizes, like the others, that the situation was somewhat “surreal.”
“I woke up because the bed and the lamp began to move, and also some medals that I have hanging. It was strange, I thought I was dreaming it but what is it, I looked at the mobile to see if I had dreamed it and I already saw on Twitter that everything the world said that there had just been an earthquake, “he explains.
Replicas
Regarding the aftershocks, the IGN expert consulted clarified that “it is not of such magnitude as to generate a series of aftershocks”, but clarified that “it cannot be ruled out” that “other smaller ones” happen. “The normal thing is that they are more isolated”, has concluded on this type of earthquakes.
And in fact, IGN itself indicates on its website that there have been three other subsequent earthquakes, although all of less impact – below magnitude three on the Richter scale. In addition, around 1.30 hours, there was another earthquake near the epicenter of the aforementioned, although this one of magnitude 2.4. None of them have been noticed by the Galician population.
–
