Tag Archives: Seismic Activity

SPAIN

Magnitude 4.1 Earthquake Near Palafrugell: IGN Monitors Effects and Reaction

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The National Geográfico Institute (IGN) recorded during the night of this Sunday, August 20, an earthquake of magnitude 4.1 near Palafrugell. Seismographs have located the epicenter of the tremor far from urban centers.

Specifically, it has been located 51 kilometers away from Begur and has been located in the sea, kilometers deep. Its effects could also have reached, to a greater or lesser extent, nearby areas such as Sant Feliu de Guíxols, Roses or Palamós..

The IGN makes a macro-seismic questionnaire available to citizens so that they can report their situation in case they have felt the tremor. Through it, those affected can declare what they were doing at the time, if they were asleep or awake, what their reaction was and if the objects moved or fell to the ground.

These data, together with those collected by the seismographs, are “essential” for the agency to alert the population of the intensity of the earthquakes and calculate the damage they may have caused.

As a curiosity, it should be noted that it was Fernando VI who introduced this questionnaire in Spain after the Lisbon earthquake in 1755, which caused nearly 100,000 deaths throughout the Peninsula.. However, it has changed over the years. This Sunday the 20th is the first earthquake to be recorded in the area in the last month.

INTERNATIONAL

Back-to-Back Earthquakes Rattle Central Colombia, Leaving Damages and Fatality

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A magnitude 5.1 earthquake was felt this Thursday night in central Colombia, eight hours after the 6.1 tremor that shook the country at noon and left one person dead and slight material damage.

The second earthquake occurred at 03:00 Spanish time and had as its epicenter the same region in the north of the Meta department (center) where the midday tremor occurred, which was followed by an aftershock of magnitude 5.9, according to the Colombian Geological Service.

The epicenter of this aftershock was located in the municipality of Restrepo, very close to Bogotá, and its depth was “superficial”, less than 30 kilometers.

The midday tremor, which was strongly felt in cities such as Bogotá, Villavicencio and Tunja, left a single victim, a woman who, seized with panic, jumped out of the window of an apartment located in the upper part of a building in the capital. Colombian.

The mayoress of Bogotá, Claudia López, assured that in the city “none of the services, nor the buildings had major damage, only minor.“

In the Elliptical Hall of the National Capitol, a rose window that adorns the vault fell on the seat occupied by the conservative Juan Carlos Wills, but the chamber was unoccupied, so there was no damage to be regretted.

On the highway between Bogotá and Villavicencio, the capital of Meta, there was a preventive closure due to landslides, since a month ago, an avalanche in the municipality of Quetame killed about twenty homes and the lives of 26 people.

In El Calvario (Meta), the epicenter of the midday tremor, at least four houses suffered considerable damage from the quake, according to local authorities.

The Geological Service indicated that in the two hours after the main earthquake, more than 20 aftershocks were registered, all located in Meta, “with magnitudes ranging from 2.0 to 5.6, and with superficial depths.”