Torrevieja has registered an earthquake of magnitude 2.2 at 1.21 am this morning, Saturday, May 4. The tremor has been located in the center of the salt lake of Torrevieja without the National Geographic Institute (IGN) having yet fixed in its seismic information the depth of the epicenter.
Seismic Risk
The one of this morning has been felt in some of the peripheral towns of La laguna as a weak earthquake, perceived by some people inside buildings, as a rocking or slight tremor and with hanging objects that oscillate slightly, according to the European macroseismic intensity scale used by the IGN.
It has been just one more of the dozens of micro-earthquakes that occur every year in this region of the southeast of the peninsula with an ancient tradition in earthquakes. The Bajo Segura is an area with the greatest seismic risk of the Iberian Peninsula, surpassed only by the province of Granada.
Earthquakes in Torrevieja
One of the most devastating contemporary earthquakes in the region occurred in March 1829 and although it has remained with the name of Torrevieja Earthquake, it completely devastated the towns of Almoradí, Benejúzar, Guardamar and seriously affected others.
Some of the most relevant seismic events, both in terms of intensity and the prolongation of aftershocks, have occurred in long series during several months of the same year. It is what happened in 1829 where experts locate a long series that began in September 1828 and ended a year later.
Normally, tremors are perceived by the population when they exceed 2 degrees of magnitude, although the residents of the Vega Baja region, who have a long historical trajectory in this type of earthquake, are said to have a special sense for the perception of microseisms below that threshold. The last ones recorded by the IGN of magnitude greater than 3 occurred in Rojales (2013), Los Montesinos (2015) and the southeast of San Miguel de Salinas (2018).