Spain seeks bigger margin for alerts

THE central Spanish government wants to reach an earthquake agreement with North African countries so that Spain can gain instant access to their seismographic reports and information. The aim of this request is to give Spain and the Balearic Islands sufficient time and warning in the event of an earthquake hitting the area, such as the one in Algeria in 2003, which was felt in the Balearics. That earthquake in Algeria caused a small tsunami and also caused a lot of material damage in various Balearic ports.
The Director of the Spanish Seismic Network, Emilio Carreño, also highlighted another historic example, the earthquake in the Southwest coast of Portugal (San Vicente) in 1755, which caused several deaths on the Andalucian coastline. “Currently we are not in any danger. But we do need to establish methods to exchange useful information”, added Carreño.
Spain has “quite moderate” earthquake risk levels and “one of the best earthquake networks in Europe”, he added.
Although, he added, Spain and the Balearic Islands could be seriously affected by any movements in North African countries.
Portugal is currently modernising their earthquake network, said the Director of the Spanish Earthquake Network, and will very shortly be exchanging information with Spain. “This is precisely why one of the objectives of the Ministry is to get agreement from Morrocco, Algeria and other countries, so that we have instant information at our fingertips”, Carreño said.