AN EARTHQUAKE reaching 4 on the Richter scale shook the south-west of Tenerife in the early hours of this morning (Tuesday), but no damage was caused as it was located a very long way beneath the surface.
Emergency services received just five calls from residents in Adeje, Arona and San Miguel, and the National Geographical Institute (IGN) says the tremor at exactly 06.38 was 25 kilometres underground.
The devastating May 2011 Lorca (Murcia) earthquake – the worst in recent history, which led to numerous deaths and thousands of homes collapsing – which, at 5.6 on the Richter scale, would normally have caused some building damage but not be a major disaster, was only a kilometre underground, which meant its intensity was huge.
Tenerife's tremor 25 kilometres below the surface meant it reached level III on the intensity scale which, according to the IGN, is only felt by fewer than 1% of the population, and purely those resting or in positions 'especially susceptible to movement' inside buildings, such as up a ladder.
The initial quake was followed exactly 20 minutes later with an aftershock of 1.5 on the Richter scale – normally not felt by anyone – and 18 kilometres below ground.
Both these quakes have come during a series of tremors that have been recorded since Saturday, and are ongoing, in Cumbre Vieja on the island of La Palma – a phenomenon being closely monitored by the Canarian Institute of Volcanology.
The pictured map, provided by the IGN, shows the location of the epicentre, out to sea off the coast of Adeje.
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