At 01:04 in the early morning of last Saturday, Granada woke up suddenly. Windows, lamps, and furniture began to move as a short rumble passed through the homes of the capital and its metropolitan area. Many neighbors jumped out of bed and went out into the street still in their pajamas. Others stayed inside, looking at the cracks, the fallen objects, or the phone, trying to figure out what had just happened.
It had been an earthquake. The movement was initially reported with a magnitude close to 5, but the National Geographic Institute later reviewed it and placed it at Mw 4.8. Sits epicenter was located in the vicinity of Alhendín, very close to one of the most populated areas of the province and at a particularly shallow depth.
This Saturday, August 22, marks a week since that early morning. What seemed like it could turn into a main earthquake followed by smaller aftershocks ended up transforming into a much more complex seismic series: at least 621 localized movements, a second earthquake of Mw 4.8 four days later, three minor injuries, 14 medical assists, and around 600 people evacuated from their homes.
Activity has decreased in the last few hours, but it has not disappeared. Granada remains alert to any vibration, any noise, and any new update from the IGN.
The earth had already warned on Friday
The seismic series did not exactly begin during the early morning of Saturday. The first relevant warning occurred on Friday, August 14, at 18:43, peninsular time, when an earthquake of magnitude 3.7 was felt in various points of the metropolitan area.
About six hours later, the big shock arrived. At 23:04 UTC on Friday, already 01:04 on Saturday in Spain, the first earthquake of Mw 4.8 was recorded.
The tremor was felt in more than 500 localities, mainly in central and eastern Andalusia, but also in parts of Murcia, Castilla-La Mancha, and, more weakly, the Community of Madrid. It reached a maximum intensity of V-VI on the European macroseismic scale within different municipalities in Granada.
112 received hundreds of calls about cracks, landslides, fallen objects, and questions from citizens who did not know how to act. There were no injuries during that first major earthquake, but there were damages to buildings, facades, cornices, and vehicles.
The Alhambra was inspected and showed no structural damage. The technicians located minor defects in certain ornamental elements, but the monument was able to continue its activity after the checks.
By Monday morning, the IGN had already recorded 348 movements. Granada was trying to return to normal when the earth changed the course of the week again.
The Tuesday that Granada went back out to the streets
The second major earthquake struck on Tuesday, August 18 at 10:37. It also reached Mw 4.8 and occurred at a very shallow depth, this time with the epicenter around Gójar.
The tremor found the city awake, with shops open, workers at their posts, tourists in the Alhambra, and families walking through the streets. The municipal buildings were evacuated, the Nevada and Serrallo shopping centers temporarily suspended their activities, and the Granada Metro reduced speed as a precaution.
The Alhambra evacuated part of the site again while new inspections were carried out. The Cathedral, museums, churches, sports centers, and other public buildings were also closed preventively.
The earthquake at 10:37 did not come alone. Fifteen minutes later, a movement of magnitude 3.9 occurred. At 11:34 another of 4.2 struck, and at 12:39 one of 4.0 was recorded. The succession of tremors kept thousands of people in squares, parks, and open spaces for hours.
The [map of the earthquakes of Granada prepared by Demócrata shows how the epicenters have concentrated around Alhendín, Gójar, La Zubia, Armilla, Ogíjares, Churriana de la Vega, Otura, and Las Gabias.
At least 621 earthquakes and 42 felt
The latest consolidated report from the Geographical Institute, updated on August 19 at 11:00 UTC, counts 621 events since the beginning of the series.
The vast majority have had a magnitude of less than 2 and could only be detected by instruments. Ten movements reached or exceeded magnitude 3, and 42 were felt by the population.
The IGN has received more than 17,000 questionnaires from citizens explaining where they were, how they felt the earthquake, and what effects they observed. These forms allow for the reconstruction of the intensity of the tremors in each locality and to complete the data obtained by the sensors.
The two earthquakes of Mw 4.8 presented a maximum acceleration close to 0.24 g at the Armilla station, located about three kilometers from the epicentral area. The shallow depth explains that, despite being a moderate magnitude, both movements were felt so clearly.
The researcher from the Andalusian Institute of Geophysics, Mercedes Feriche, raised the number of earthquakes of magnitude 4 or higher recorded during the episode to five, a figure similar to that reached during the series of 2021 in the surroundings of Atarfe and Santa Fe.
Three injured, 14 assists, and one minor transferred to the hospital
The series has not caused fatalities or serious injuries. The health report from Tuesday includes, however, 14 assists: six for anxiety crises, five for dizziness, and three for minor traumas.
Among the injured was a 13-year-old girl hit by the fall of a brick, who had to be transferred to the hospital. The other two suffered minor head traumas.
The fear was one of the most widespread consequences. Numerous neighbors decided to spend the night outside their homes, sleep in vehicles, or temporarily move to the coast. The Official College of Psychology of Eastern Andalusia provided assistance for people affected by anxiety caused by the earthquakes.
Experts remind that, during a shake, rushing out to the street can increase the risk. A large part of the recorded damages has consisted precisely of the fall of cornices, glass, cladding, and facade elements onto sidewalks and vehicles.
Six hundred people out of their homes
The most significant consequences were concentrated in Las Gabias. Technicians detected damage to pillars located on the facade line of six blocks, which forced the preventive evacuation of 371 homes where around 600 people reside.
The reinforcement work on the pillars concluded on Thursday afternoon, but the City Council maintained the evacuation while structural calculation specialists checked the intervention. Neighbors have controlled access slots over the weekend to collect medications, clothing, and other necessary items, but the definitive return depends on a technical authorization.
The inspection of 580 buildings in different municipalities of Granada detected only 14 with damages considered relevant, according to the [report released after the reviews](https://www.granadadigital.es/terremotos-granada-inmuebles-revisados/). The authorities have ruled out demolitions for now and maintain that most of the damages do not affect the main structure of the buildings.
The communications to the insurers allow measuring another dimension of the episode. Only Santalucía had processed up to Thursday 1,473 notices related to cracks, damages, and falling objects. This figure corresponds only to the clients of that company and does not represent the total damages in the province.
Earthquakes are considered an extraordinary risk. The compensations that meet the requirements correspond to the Insurance Compensation Consortium, as long as the goods were insured at the time of the incident.
Activity slows down, but has not ended
The early morning of Thursday left about twenty earthquakes. The most important reached a magnitude of 3.4 and had its epicenter in Dílar. During the early morning of Friday, seven movements were located, of which only two were felt: one of 2.2 in Armilla and another of 2.4 in Gójar.
The reduction in magnitude and the number of perceptible movements is a favorable sign, but does not allow declaring the series finished. Researchers do not know if the activity will continue for days, weeks, or months.
The comparison with 2021 forces maintaining caution. That series accumulated more than 3,000 shallow earthquakes between December 2020 and August 2021, six of them with magnitudes between 4 and 5.
What is happening now is located about ten kilometers further southeast. The episode unfolds between different active fault systems of the Granada basin, including those of Dílar, Granada, Santa Fe, and Belicena-Alhendín.
Could there be a larger earthquake?
Seismology cannot predict the day, the hour, or the magnitude of the next earthquake. It also cannot guarantee that another stronger movement will not occur.
The available data indicates, however, that a higher magnitude earthquake is possible but unlikely.
The accumulation of hundreds of small earthquakes does not necessarily mean that a larger one is being prepared. It may respond to the readjustment of a fault after a main movement or to the successive activation of several small nearby faults.
Democrat has already explained what allows seismology to anticipate and what cannot be predicted. Specialists can analyze probabilities, faults, depths, and patterns, but cannot issue a precise prediction equivalent to a weather forecast.
One week later, Granada returns to normal with an ear to the ground
The city has reopened its monuments, shops, health centers, and public buildings. The streets have regained their usual movement and the intensity of the aftershocks has decreased.
But normality is not yet complete. Hundreds of residents of Las Gabias are waiting to return to their homes. Technicians continue inspecting buildings. Insurers and the Consortium are processing the damages. And every small creak still provokes for a few seconds the same question: has it trembled again?
Granada lives on one of the most seismically active areas of the Peninsula and has historically known earthquakes. The exceptional thing about this week has not only been the number of movements, but the occurrence of two earthquakes of Mw 4.8 in four days, their shallow depth, and their proximity to a large urban area.
Seven days after that early morning, science cannot say when the series will end. It can affirm that the activity has lost intensity, that serious damages have been limited, and that the possibility of a larger earthquake exists, but it is reduced.