Although the seismic movement was felt all along the Costa Tropical, it was Almuñécar were it was most intense – 5.1 on the Richter scale.

The epicentre was located under Alhucemas in Northern Morocco, near the Spanish enclave city of Melilla.

The earth tremor was registered at 13.47h, Thursday the 20th, followed by the first aftershock ten minutes later with a force of 3.2. There followed 25 much smaller aftershocks or ‘replicas’ (responses) as they say in Spanish, with the epicentre shifting to under the Isla de Alborán.

The emergency number 112 received 70 calls between 14.50h and 15.30h – as none of them were from the United States, nobody screamed at the telephone operator, “Oh my God, we’re all going to die.”

(News: Almunecar, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)