A magnitude 4,8 earthquake strikes Granada and injures three people

An earthquake shook southern Spain on Tuesday morning, causing material damage and forcing several establishments to close, including the famous Alhambra palace.

The earthquake struck 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 sustained minor injuries.

Debris damaged several vehicles parked on the streets. Museums, administrative buildings, and sports centers were forced to close. Panicked, many residents rushed from their homes to seek refuge outside, fearing aftershocks.

The Alhambra, a medieval palace of Islamic architecture and a UNESCO World Heritage Site visited by millions of tourists each year, remained closed in the afternoon. The city's metro system, meanwhile, reduced the speed of its trains to 30 km/h for "safety reasons," resulting in delays.

According to the IGN (National Geographic Institute), this earthquake is part of a series of very shallow tremors that began last Friday in the region. Alfonso Malpica, a resident of the ground floor of a building in Granada, told the newspaper El País that the tremor was "stronger than the ones that happen from time to time, the ones we're used to." Cristina Ruiz Lopez, a laboratory technician caught in the earthquake in a supermarket, described the scene: "Everything collapsed. It was terrifying."