An earthquake has hit southern Spain this morning, with part of an airport roof collapsing and reports that buildings were shaken by the force of the tremors.
The impact of the 5.5-magnitude quake was felt in more than 50 towns including the popular tourist resort of Alicante.
It struck at a depth of two kilometres off the coast of Almeria in south east Spain at 7.13am today, according to the country’s National Geographic Institute.
Parts of a suspended ceiling at Almeria Airport crashed down around an hour after the tremors – but there were no reported injuries.
Tourists and locals in the region reported being raised from their beds by the ‘strong’ and ‘surprisingly long’ quake.
‘In Roquetas De Mar it was very noticeable and it lasted a few seconds, the whole hotel room was shaking,’ one visitor to the area wrote on social media.
A British ex-pat living in Almeria said the tremors gave her a ‘rude awakening’ and were ‘pretty scary to say the least.’
Another person living in Almería said ‘the whole house shook’ when the quake hit.
Dramatic videos showed lamps swinging as one property was rattled by the tremors, with resident Jose Manuel Navarro saying he jumped out of bed ‘to stand in the doorway’.
Tremors were also felt in towns across the Malaga, Granada and Jaen areas, as well as in the Levante region which inludes Murcia, Alicante and Albacete.
It comes after another, less powerful quake hit the Costa Blanca back in April.
Residents as well as Brits staying in Torrevieja for the Easter holidays described being ‘almost thrown out of bed’ when the tremors hit just after midnight.
A British ex-pat living in the Los Balcones resort just south of the Alicante town shared his experience of being awoken by the quake.
‘It was something else. The whole house was shaking. I couldn’t go back to sleep as I thought there was more to come,’ he wrote on social media. ‘This was the strongest and loudest I’ve experienced yet.’
Another person living in the area described the tremor as ‘the strongest quake I have ever felt in my life,’ Spanish Eye reports.
The epicentre was just five kilometres from the popular holiday hotspot and was registered at a magnitude of 3, the IGN said at the time.
