- The earthquake was felt last night in most of the island’s municipalities.
Gran Canaria has been hit by its strongest earthquake in 60 years.
The holiday resort off the coast of North Africa was hit last night by a 3.8 magnitude earthquake on the Richter scale, which was felt in 14 of the island’s 21 municipalities.
Aftershocks are not ruled out as the first quake occurred around 7:20 p.m.
The earthquake occurred at the epicentre of Santa María de Guía, in the north of the island.
Itahiza Domínguez, director of the National Geographic Institute in the Canary Islands, said that this is the strongest earthquake detected in Gran Canaria in at least 60 years.
Amadores Beach, Gran Canaria. The epicentre of the earthquake was Santa Maria de Guia, in the north.
There were no immediate reports of casualties or structural damage.
It was initially recorded as a 4.1 magnitude earthquake when it struck at 7.20pm on Tuesday, before being revised down.
Some reports place the epicenter about 13 miles off its northwest coast.
The earthquake is believed to have occurred at a depth of 12.5 miles below the earth’s surface.
A spokesman for the regional government’s emergency response coordination centre confirmed last night: ‘An earthquake has been recorded on the north coast of Gran Canaria and has been felt in 14 of the island’s 21 municipalities.
“A number of 999 calls have been received. There are no reports of casualties or serious incidents at this time.”
Scientists monitoring the volcano have encouraged people who felt the quake to notify the Spanish government.
Local emergency services received calls from concerned residents, TN2 Canarias reported.
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