World

2 Earthquakes Rock Spain Killing at Least Seven

MADRID (AP) — Two earthquakes struck southeast Spain in quick succession Wednesday, killing at least seven people, injuring dozens and causing major damage to buildings, officials said.

The epicenter of the quakes – with magnitudes of 4.4 and 5.2 – was close to the town of Lorca, and the second came about two hours after the first, an official with the Murcia regional government said on condition of anonymity in line with department policy.

The Murcia regional government said a hospital in Lorca was being evacuated, dozens of injured people were being treated at the scene and a field hospital was being set up. It said the seven deaths included a minor and occurred with the second, stronger quake.

Large chunks of stone and brick fell from the facade of a church in Lorca as Spanish state TV was broadcasting live from the scene. A large church bell was also among the rubble. The broadcaster reported that schoolchildren usually gather at that spot around that time, and if it had happened 10 minutes later, a “tragedy” could have occurred.

Spanish TV showed images of cars that were partially crushed by falling rubble, and large cracks in buildings. Nervous groups of residents gathered in open public places, talking about what happened and calling relatives and friends on their cell phones. An elderly woman appeared to be in shock and was seated in a chair as people tried to calm her.

“I felt a tremendously strong movement, followed by a lot of noise, and I was really frightened,” the newspaper El Pais quoted another Lorca resident Juani Avellanada as saying. It did not give her age.

Another resident, Juana Ruiz, said her house split open with the quake and “all the furniture fell over,” according to El Pais.

John Bellini, a seismologist with the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Earthquake Information Center in Golden, Colorado, said the larger earthquake had a preliminary magnitude of 5.3 and struck 220 miles (350 kilometers) south-southeast of Madrid.

The quake was about 6 miles (10 kilometers) deep, and was preceded by the smaller one, Bellini said. He classified the bigger quake as moderate and said it could cause structural damage to older buildings and masonry.

The quakes occurred in a seismically active area near a large fault beneath the Mediterranean Sea where the European and African continents brush past each other, USGS seismologist Julie Dutton said.

The USGS said it has recorded hundreds of small quakes in the area since 1990.

Daniel Woolls contributed to this report.

Comments (39)

  • Bronco II
    Posted on May 12, 2011 at 10:01am

    Those Birth Pangs are getting closer and harder.Pray for those who are caught up in them and help them where we can.

    Report Post » Bronco II  
  • Gypsy123
    Posted on May 12, 2011 at 9:53am

    Is:1313 Therefore I will make the heavens tremble; and the earth will shake from its place at the wrath of the LORD Almighty, in the day of his burning anger.

    Report Post » Gypsy123  
  • hempstead1944
    Posted on May 12, 2011 at 9:48am

    Wonder if God is knocking on Spain’s door?

    Report Post »  
  • staythecourse
    Posted on May 12, 2011 at 7:05am

    I wonder if that guy who predicted an earthquake in Italy got the fact of there would be an earthquake right, but missed a little bit on the actual location. Interesting that it did happen on in the area of the same fault lines…on the exact day it was forecast…just saying.

    Report Post »  
  • donh2
    Posted on May 11, 2011 at 10:21pm

    This is what Glenn gets for mocking the Italians who fled in fear of a centuries old prediction of an earthquake on 5/11/11. Glenn likes to play the prophet but he is a poser who is not only off target, but ridicules people of genuine abilities who do call the future with divine accuracy.

    Report Post »  
  • the hawk
    Posted on May 11, 2011 at 9:58pm

    I THINK IT WAS bUSH AND cHENNY

    Report Post »  
  • kschmud
    Posted on May 11, 2011 at 5:46pm

    I think a bunch of people left Rome today b/c they thought THEY were going to get an earthquake…so the prediction was just a little off :)

    Report Post »  
  • biohazard23
    Posted on May 11, 2011 at 4:53pm

    Must be all of those women’s breasts exerting their vile influence over those morally corrupt tectonic plates again……

    Report Post » biohazard23  
  • kickagrandma
    Posted on May 11, 2011 at 4:52pm

    It is so laid out for us in the BIBLE. Amazing.

    Read. Study. PRAY. Laugh and love. Talk to your kids. Kids, talk to your parents. Visit with one another, really, not superficially.

    GOD is so good to give us all these warning signs to call us to HIM and to awaken us out of our lethargic, selfish life styles.

    GOD bless you “guys” and protect you each one. In the name above all names, JESUS THE CHRIST, amen.

    Report Post »  
  • HellAndBack
    Posted on May 11, 2011 at 4:39pm

    Horrible, but that is how easy this planet will shake us off when its done with us. I suspect will will Be destroyed in Thirds though. just sayin’.

    Report Post » HellAndBack  
    • vennoye
      Posted on May 11, 2011 at 6:06pm

      Nope, don’t think so……..remember the meek inherit the earth…..we just need to understand who is in control.

      Report Post » vennoye  
  • momprayn
    Posted on May 11, 2011 at 4:35pm

    I don’t think these are going to stop…..get ready for them here. Heard there will probably be some where they don’t expect them also. Years ago. some “prophetic” people have warned the bad ones for us would come after disastrous ones in Japan….which they think were the recent ones there. Warning re the New Madrid fault which is along the Mississippi River (as well as the “big one” in CA)- which reminds me of the flooding going on there now. Hmmm…..

    Report Post »  
    • vennoye
      Posted on May 11, 2011 at 6:18pm

      After I looked at the pictures of Pelosi’s constituents after the election, I decided that SF,CA was the last place that I would visit again!! If I lived there, I would try to get out….. Those pictures looked like nothing I had ever been around or seen. Decided I had led a sheltered life!! :-) Thank you, LORD!

      Report Post » vennoye  
  • W@nd@
    Posted on May 11, 2011 at 4:26pm

    was this really predicted or was that a joke?

    Report Post »  
    • politicaljules
      Posted on May 11, 2011 at 4:54pm

      It was predicted for Rome, but for a much bigger quake. Apparently for many years people expected some kind of giant quake around Rome for 5-11-2011. Many people evacuated Rome yesterday.

      So the predictor was sort of right, but since the odds of some kind of quake happening somewhere in the world are kind of up there, he had some stuff going for him.

      Report Post »  
  • ChiefGeorge
    Posted on May 11, 2011 at 4:21pm

    More to come!

    Report Post » ChiefGeorge  
  • the hawk
    Posted on May 11, 2011 at 4:19pm

    theWHO Rocked Cincinnati 30yrs ago killed 12 !

    Report Post »  
  • DagneyT
    Posted on May 11, 2011 at 4:16pm

    Too bad they don’t have the earthquake building requirements that California has in place.

    Report Post » DagneyT  
  • NormanDeArmond
    Posted on May 11, 2011 at 4:12pm

    That is odd, I was unaware spain sided with Jihadis and PLO against Israel and they still got a natural(?) disaster.

    Report Post » NormanDeArmond  
  • stinkybisquit
    Posted on May 11, 2011 at 4:04pm

    I hope no one from Rome went there to be safe. http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/11/us-italy-rome-earthquake-idUSTRE74A2LF20110511?feedType=RSS&sp=true

    Report Post »  
    • kickagrandma
      Posted on May 11, 2011 at 4:46pm

      @STINKYBISQUIT ~~~ LoL…. great short story about that, running from death only to run head-on into it.

      Report Post »  
    • vennoye
      Posted on May 11, 2011 at 4:52pm

      Think they call that “from the frying pan into the fire”!!!

      Report Post » vennoye  
  • Islesfordian
    Posted on May 11, 2011 at 4:03pm

    Read this in conjunction with the story from yesterday about people fleeing Rome because of a prediction made in 1915 that a big earthquake would hit Rome today.

    Weird

    Report Post » Islesfordian  
    • politicaljules
      Posted on May 11, 2011 at 4:51pm

      Thats what Im saying.

      Spooky, and not in a “spooky dude” kind of way.

      Report Post »  
  • TexasCommonSense
    Posted on May 11, 2011 at 4:01pm

    Thankfully, they weren’t very powerful.

    Report Post » TexasCommonSense  
    • Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
      Posted on May 11, 2011 at 4:51pm

      Agreed, yet recall the Kyoto quake of a few years ago, not a monster as quakes go, it still was a shallow, direct hit – distance wise – on the city and the devastation was immense.

      Report Post » Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}  
  • VLADTEPES
    Posted on May 11, 2011 at 4:00pm

    The socialist’s over there will probably love it..

    Report Post »  
    • Gold Coin & Economic News
      Posted on May 11, 2011 at 4:07pm

      Maybe these were just pre-shocks to a bigger one. Japan had bigger quakes than these before the 9.0 struck.

      Report Post » Gold Coin & Economic News  
    • Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
      Posted on May 11, 2011 at 4:12pm

      God help the people there in the quake zone; and comfort those who’s families are affected by the loss of life and anyone injured in any way.

      Report Post » Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}  
    • Restored One
      Posted on May 11, 2011 at 4:24pm

      Fires, floods, earthquakes, War. Maybe May 21st is the day of reckoning.

      Report Post »  
    • Anonymous T. Irrelevant
      Posted on May 11, 2011 at 4:49pm

      “Maybe these were just pre-shocks to a bigger one. Japan had bigger quakes than these before the 9.0 struck.”

      I hope not, my kids are going there next month with a Spanish Club.

      Report Post » Anonymous T. Irrelevant  
    • grandmaof5
      Posted on May 11, 2011 at 4:56pm

      Amen to that, SNOW, this has been an unbelievable series of events. Hope you are feeling better today.

      Report Post »  
    • FlatFoot
      Posted on May 11, 2011 at 5:17pm

      @Restored One Posted on May 11, 2011 at 4:24pm
      “Fires, floods, earthquakes, War. Maybe May 21st is the day of reckoning.”

      Not sure if you’re just being purely facetious or what, and I do not know if you’re old enough to have known the turbulence of the Vietnam war years, but I remember them well.

      Here in So California from 1963-1975 while we had the cold war with the Soviets going on and the Vietnam war going on, the huge daily anti-war demonstrations going on as well as the huge civil rights marches and demonstrations going on, the huge riots going on, and notable high profile assassinations going on, we also experienced multiple large earthquakes and other natural disasters… and it wasn’t the end of the world.

      It was simply nature doing what it does while human beings were doing what they do and not one iota more. Period.

      Report Post » FlatFoot  
    • the_zazzy
      Posted on May 11, 2011 at 5:18pm

      Matthew 24: 6-7
      6 And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
      7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places.
      8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.

      It is fascinating to take note of some astounding statistics furnished by Cecil Boswell of Nashville, Tenn. Mr. Boswell has spent a lot of time reviewing and calculating statistics from the U.S. Geological Survey. By analyzing the records of ancient earthquakes as well as every earthquake in modern times that registered a 7.0 or higher on the Richter scale, the picture that emerges is portentous indeed.
      From 1 A.D. to 1800, there were 11 major earthquakes recorded in history. This results in an average of one major earthquake approximately every 100 years.

      From 1900 to 2000 there were 10 major earthquakes 7.0 or higher. This results in an average of one major earthquake every 10 years.

      This brings us to recent times. One of the most notable major earthquakes was in Bam, Iran, on Dec. 26, 2003. Exactly ONE year later, Dec. 26, 2004, Sumatra, Indonesia, experienced another massive earthquake and a subsequent devastating tsunami. Between these two earthquakes, more than 330,000 lives were lost.

      Report Post » the_zazzy  
    • the_zazzy
      Posted on May 11, 2011 at 5:18pm

      From 2003 to 2007, there were 29 major earthquakes 7.0 or higher. This results in an average of one major earthquake every 49 days.
      In 2008, there were 12 major earthquakes 7.0 or higher. This results in an average of one major earthquake every 37 days.
      In 2009, there were 16 major earthquakes 7.0 or higher. This results in an average of one major earthquake every 22 days.
      In 2010, there were 24 major earthquakes 7.0 or higher. This results in an average of one major earthquake every 15 days.
      Scripture tells us that as civilization nears the end of this current age, one of the signs would be earthquakes.
      In the Bible book of Matthew, chapter 24, earthquakes are likened to birth contractions, which we all know are universally characterized by a progressive increase in both frequency and intensity until their job is accomplished.

      Sadly, there will be those who claim that this information means absolutely nothing and that people should pay no attention. But for those who understand scripture; those who take the Bible’s words at face value, who are watching the specific signs that speak of the end of the age, the evidence is all there. The contractions are increasing in both intensity and frequency.

      Report Post » the_zazzy  
    • imreddog
      Posted on May 11, 2011 at 6:12pm

      Zazzy, did you actually read the scriptures that you posted?… you know, the part about “see that ye be not troubled… but the end is not yet”. And “All these are the beginning of sorrows.”
      You should become concerned when the Anti-Christ is revealed as in 2nd Thessalonians 23:3… the falling away has long since begun.

      Report Post »  
    • the_zazzy
      Posted on May 11, 2011 at 6:26pm

      @IMREDDOG:
      Thank you, yes I did. It’s simply one of many signs that signify the end is not far off. The article is on earthquakes, though, not the Anti-Christ (aka Obama).

      Report Post » the_zazzy  
    • Brooke Lorren
      Posted on May 11, 2011 at 9:40pm

      I’m surprised that such (relatively) small earthquakes caused so much damage. I maintain an earthquake tracking web site and I don’t even bother listing earthquakes below 6.5… there have been 116 M6 quakes this year alone.

      I do feel for the people there, but I hope that they rebuild with stronger buildings because a 4 and a 5 are relatively small potatoes and many more people out there are being affected by stronger quakes.

      Report Post »  

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