Deadly earthquake rocks Spanish town 1

May 12, 2011

Reuters

First posted: Wednesday, May 11, 2011 2:14:00 EDT PM

MADRID - A rare earthquake rocked an ancient town in southeastern Spain on

Wednesday causing houses to collapse, damaging historic churches and public

buildings and killing at least six people.

Some reports said the magnitude 5.3 earthquake sent tremors through the region

of Murcia and had affected a nursing home and the tower of a church.

" Unfortunately, we can confirm ... deaths due to cave-ins and falling debris, "

the mayor of Lorca, Francisco Jodar, told radio station Ser. " We're trying to

find out if there are people inside the collapsed houses, " he said.

A Murcia government spokesman said on the radio that six people had been killed.

" We were just sat here and everything began to move, pictures fell from the

wall, the TV fell and (the quake) went on for ages. We looked out of the window

and there were a lot of people running, an ambulance and the police, " one woman

told national radio.

The earthquake struck at 6.47 pm, according to Spain's National Geographical

Institute data. The U.S Geological Survey said the epicentre was one kilometre

below the ground.

Lorca, which has a population of about 90,000 people, dates back to the Bronze

Age and probably gained its name from the Romans. The old part of the town is

made up of a network of narrow alleyways.

The town is built in the shadow of a fortress and its many architectural

features include a Roman military column, the Church of San Francisco and

medieval walls and gates of San .

At one point in its history, Lorca was a dangerous border town caught between

the Kingdom of Castile and the Moorish Kingdom of Granada. Its Easter Fiesta

draws throngs of Spaniards and foreign tourists.

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