- The quake was felt across most of the island’s municipalities last night
Gran Canaria has been hit by its strongest earthquake in 60 years.
The holiday hotspot off the coast of North Africa was hit by a 3.8 Richter scale quake last night, felt in 14 of the island’s 21 municipalities.
Aftershocks have not been ruled out since the first quake struck around 7:20pm.
The quake broke out from the epicentre of Santa Maria de Guia in the north of the island.
Itahiza Dominguez, Director in the Canary Islands of the National Geographic Institute, has been quoted as saying it is the strongest earthquake detected in Gran Canaria in at least 60 years.
Amadores beach, Gran Canaria. The quake’s epicentre was Santa Maria de Guia to the north
There were no immediate reports of any casualties or structural damage.
It was initially registered as a 4.1 force earthquake when it struck at 7.20pm on Tuesday before the revision downwards.
Some reports put the epicentre as being around 13 miles off its north-west coast.
The earthquake is understood to have occurred at a depth of 12.5 miles under the earth’s surface.
A spokesman for a regional government-run emergency response coordination centre confirmed last night: ‘An earthquake has been registered in the north coast of Gran Canaria that has been felt in 14 of the island’s 21 municipalities.
‘Several 999 calls have been received. There are no reports of any casualties or major incidents at this time.’
Volcanic monitoring scientist have encouraged people who felt the quake to notify the Spanish government.
Local emergency services received calls from concerned residents, TN2 Canarias reported.
