An earthquake shook southern Spain on Tuesday morning, causing material damage and forcing several establishments to close their doors, including the famous Alhambra palace.
The tremor occurred at 10:37 a.m. (local time) near the town of Alhendín, about ten kilometers south of Granada. The Spanish National Geographic Institute (IGN) recorded a magnitude of 4.8 at a depth of less than ten kilometers. Three people were slightly injured.
Debris damaged several vehicles parked on the streets. Museums, administrative buildings, and sports centers were forced to close. Panicked, many residents hurriedly left their homes to take refuge outside, fearing aftershocks.
The Alhambra, a medieval palace of Islamic architecture listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site and visited annually by millions of tourists, remained closed in the afternoon. The city’s metro network reduced the speed of its trains to 30 km/h for « security reasons, » causing delays.
According to the IGN, this earthquake is part of a series of very shallow tremors that began last Friday in the region. Alfonso Malpica, a resident of a ground-floor apartment in Granada, told the newspaper El País that the tremor was « stronger than those that happen from time to time, the ones we are used to. » Cristina Ruiz Lopez, a laboratory technician caught by the earthquake in a supermarket, described the scene: « Everything collapsed. It was terrifying. »
