Granada releases its energy more often than we think. Each year 3,000 microearthquakes are detected in the province, although thankfully they do not cause disasters such as the earthquake which occurred recently in Italy.
In fact, only “ten to twelve are perceived by the population, due to the low magnitude of earthquakes, says the director of the Andalusian Institute of Geophysics, Jesus Ibanez. Granada’s case is somewhat peculiar. Due to its location, the province with the highest seismic activity, with Almeria and Malaga, the whole area of interaction energy affects the arc between Gibraltar and Alicante.
The Institute of Geophysics is responsible for recording, reviewing and monitoring all the movements of the land in the region by some transmitters that send data to the central body in the body. In the province of Granada these movements are very frequent “and do not understand the geographic divisions,” said Jesus Ibanez.
This is equally affecting the Alpujarra, which in the Baza region and the coast. However, people do not notice. In fact, last month in April on the 23rd there was one in the parish of Pedro Ruiz (near Fuente Vaqueros) with a magnitude of 2.5 on the richter scale and no one heard or knew anything about it.
In cases of large earthquakes, “the important thing is the quality of buildings and infrastructure,” emphasizes Feriche Mercedes, prevention experts from the Institute of Geophysics. The materials have to be earthquake resistant ‘by law’, however, this is not always the case. Indeed, a team from the institute, who traveled to the Italian area affected by the deadly earthquake detected “anomalies” in the buildings.
In 1884 a major earthquake struck part of the provinces of Granada and Malaga: killed 800 people and injured another 1,500. The deadly 4400 earthquake destroyed many houses and caused damage to 13,000 others.
The situation today is not as alarming says Feriche. The Institute of Geophysics recommend that in the event that we are caught in an earthquake inside a building is to get out or to stay close to a support pillar of the house as this is less likely to fall.
