Spain’s Murcia Earthquakes: 8 Dead, 120 Injured

Disturbing images, video, and firsthand accounts of the 2 deadly earthquakes which rocked Lorca, Murcia, Spain yesterday (11 May 2011) flood today’s media outlets. 8 dead and 120 injured. Included in the dead are a 14 year old boy and a 22 year old pregnant woman.

It happened at 5pm local Spain time when the first earthquake his, a 4.5 on the Richter Scale. 2 hours later, another earthquake was measured at 5.2. There were 37 total aftershocks. Incredible. Spain’s military was mobilized to help and 10,000 people spent the night in tents.

Lorca’s Old Town has 20,000 flats, most of which were built in the 1960s when little was known – or observed – of building safety regulations. Many of these houses and buildings have some kind of damage and will need to be inspected by city engineers and architects.

With so many flats affected, with so many out of work, how are these poor people going to pay their mortgages? And if they can, they may be paying a mortgage for a house in which they cannot live until repaired, houses they certainly won’t be able to sell to prospective buyers which may know – or suspect – there may be unseen structural damages.

The earthquake was also felt here in Madrid, Spain – but wasn’t felt by me. Not sure why. Other people in Madrid told me they too felt tremors. I was watching the “event” on La 1, Spain’s national Channel 1, from about 7pm on. Just before tuning in, an old church bell tower – AND BELL – fell to the ground, nearly hitting a Channel 1 reporter who was recounting the earlier earthquake. He was standing within the emergency tape of already-fallen bricks from the same church. See video below of the belfry falling within 12 feet of the reporter.

CNN Video below: