Earthquake in Granada today: magnitude 5, emergency phase, damages and more than 35 aftershocks

In the emergency phase, operational situation 1 of the Seismic Risk Emergency Plan in Andalusia, the device is aimed at managing an earthquake that has already caused damage but can still be addressed mainly with the ordinary means of the Junta and the involved administrations. It is not yet a scenario of widespread collapse, but it does require reinforced coordination, rapid damage assessment, and preventive measures for the population and buildings.

Although the detailed text of the seismic plan is not openly reproduced in the consulted sources, the Junta de Andalucía and specialized press describe quite consistently what operational situation 1 implies in Andalusian civil protection plans (both in the seismic plan and in flood plans and the Territorial Emergency Plan):

• Emergency with damages already present: the emergency phase refers to a phenomenon that involves damage or that, by the Plan's Management criteria, requires implementing the necessary relief and protection measures for people and property (a definition that the Junta applies to the Flood Plan and the PTEAnd, extrapolable to the logic of the seismic plan).
• Controllable with ordinary means: operational situation 1 is reserved for emergencies that can be controlled with the ordinary means and resources of the Junta de Andalucía, or with occasional support that does not require specific coordination by the central bodies of the National Civil Protection System.

Applied specifically to the Seismic Risk Plan, recent documentation on the magnitude 5 earthquake in Granada (August 15, 2026), in which the Junta activated the emergency phase, operational situation 1, allows identifying the typical next operational steps once this situation is declared:

• Reinforcement of seismic monitoring and surveillance:
  • Continuous monitoring of the aftershock sequence based on data from the National Geographic Institute (IGN).
  • Periodic updating of magnitude, depth, and intensity to assess whether the emergency remains at situation 1, is downgraded, or requires moving to a higher operational situation.
• Reinforced institutional coordination:
  • Activation and meeting of the plan's management bodies and the operations committee or advisory committee, as appropriate.
  • Coordination between the Junta, the Provincial Council, and the affected municipalities to share information on damages, needs, and priorities.
  • Integration of the Emergency Coordination Center (112 / Cecem) as the central node for managing alerts and incidents.
• Technical evaluation of buildings and infrastructures (key step after an earthquake):
  • Deployment of firefighters and police to inspect cracks, detachments, cornices, facades, walls, and other damaged elements, marking risk zones.
  • Activation of the Andalusian Volunteer Architects Group to collaborate in the assessment and quantification of damage to properties, as has been done in the most recent activation of the seismic plan.
  • Continuous technical report on the habitability of homes and public buildings and the safety of critical infrastructures (health centers, educational, transport, etc.).
• Protection measures for the population:
  • Order or recommendation of preventive evacuations of specific buildings or areas where structural damage or risk of new detachments is detected.
  • Maintenance of security perimeters and prohibition of access to marked zones, both for residents and onlookers.
  • Reinforcement of information to the public through 112 alerts and messages from the Junta (stay away from damaged facades, do not enter buildings with cracks without technical authorization, always follow emergency services' instructions).
• Mobilization of the means provided in the plan:
  • Intensive use of the ordinary resources of emergencies, civil protection, health, and security of the Junta and municipalities.
  • Possible request for occasional support (for example, specialized rescue units or structural engineering) without yet reaching the full deployment of extraordinary state means that would imply a higher operational situation.
• Continuous review of the situation and possible level change:
  • If damages or risk increase, the plan management may propose the move to situation 2, with incorporation of extraordinary means and possible more intense State intervention.
  • If seismic activity decreases and damages stabilize, the next steps would be the progressive deactivation of situation 1 and return to the pre-emergency phase or normalization.

In summary, the emergency phase, operational situation 1 in the Seismic Risk Plan in Andalusia marks the moment when, after an earthquake with damages, the autonomous capacities are organized to assess structural damage, protect the population, coordinate all involved administrations, and decide whether it is necessary to escalate the response or start deactivating the device.

According to Andalusian regional legislation, the legal regime of emergencies, including those of seismic origin, is mainly articulated through Law 2/2002, of November 11, on Emergency Management in Andalusia, amended by Law 2/2023, of March 15, and the Territorial Emergency Plan for Civil Protection of Andalusia (PTEAnd), approved by Decree 69/2024, of March 4 (cited in the error correction published in the BOJA of 9‑4‑2024). These regulations do not list in detail a “closed catalog” of specific competencies of the president of the Junta in case of earthquake, but frame his role within the general autonomous civil protection system.

1. Applicable regulatory framework

Law 2/2002, on Emergency Management in Andalusia establishes the Andalusian civil protection and emergency management system. It defines:

• The basic actions before “situations of serious risk, catastrophe or public calamity” (among which seismic emergencies would be included).
• The different emergency plans (territorial, special, specific, municipal, self-protection).
• The distribution of responsibilities among the Council of Government, the department competent in civil protection, the Government Delegations of the Junta, and local entities.

Additionally, the Territorial Emergency Plan for Civil Protection of Andalusia (PTEAnd), approved by Decree 69/2024, acts, according to Law 2/2002 itself (articles on territorial and special plans), as a master plan and as a framework for integrating all special plans, including those related to seismic risks developed according to basic state guidelines.

2. Competent bodies and the president's place in the system

Law 2/2002 organizes decision-making in emergencies around the following autonomous bodies:

• Council of Government of the Junta de Andalucía (articles on distribution of competencies, window 26,000‑33,500 of Law 2/2002):
  • Approve the Territorial Emergency Plan of Andalusia and the special plans.
  • Set essential guidelines in prevention, intervention, and rehabilitation matters.
  • Agree on the declaration of “emergency of general interest of Andalusia”, for serious emergencies not declared of national interest.
  • Exercise certain sanctioning powers in civil protection matters.
• Department competent in civil protection:
  • Coordinates the execution of civil protection policy.
  • Promotes and develops the Territorial Plan and the special and specific plans.
  • Directs, according to the plans, the operational response and proposes to the Council of Government the declaration of emergency of general interest of Andalusia.
  • Orders and directs the Integrated Coordination System of Urgencies and Emergencies (phone 112).
• Government Delegations of the Junta and local entities (municipalities, provincial councils):
  • Assume emergency management in their scope when provided by the plans, and may request activation of higher-level plans.

The president of the Junta appears formally in these regulations mainly as promulgator and signer of laws and decrees (for example, Law 2/2002, Law 2/2023, Decree 127/2023, or the decree approving the PTEAnd), but the operational competencies of emergency management are expressly assigned to the Council of Government, the competent department, and the authorities provided in each plan.

3. Specific application to seismic emergencies

For seismic risks, Law 2/2002 foresees their treatment through:

• The Territorial Emergency Plan of Andalusia, which sets the “organic and functional framework” and the regional and provincial deployment before any serious risk, catastrophe, or public calamity.
• The special emergency plans developed when there is a specific basic state guideline for a particular risk (such as the Basic Guideline for Seismic Risk Planning). These special plans are developed by the competent department and approved by the Council of Government.

In a serious seismic emergency affecting Andalusia without being declared of national interest by the State, the autonomous scheme is as follows:

• The authority provided in the plan (territorial and, if applicable, special seismic) activates the plan and directs the emergency.
• If the magnitude justifies it, the Council of Government may declare the “emergency of general interest of Andalusia”, with the effects and special measures set in Decree 69/2024 and the PTEAnd (rehabilitation commission, strengthening inter-administrative coordination, etc.).
• Measures of evacuation, confinement, access limitation, requisition or intervention of goods and services, etc., foreseen in Law 2/2002 and in the activated plans are articulated.

4. Specific role of the president

In light of the consulted autonomous regulations, it can be summarized that:

• There is no explicit and differentiated list of “competencies of the president of the Junta” in seismic emergencies in Law 2/2002 or in the visible references to the PTEAnd.
• The president intervenes mainly in the normative and political sphere: promulgating and signing laws and decrees on emergency management and civil protection, and participating in the collegiate decisions of the Council of Government (among them, the approval of plans and the declaration of emergencies of general interest of Andalusia).
• The specific executive competencies of command and daily coordination in the emergency fall, according to the consulted texts, on the Council of Government, the department competent in civil protection, and the operational authorities provided in the plans, rather than on the president individually.

To know in more detail whether the PTEAnd or a possible Special Seismic Risk Plan assign additional specific functions to the president (for example, as political reference authority or as signer of the activation of certain emergency levels), it would be necessary to consult the full text of those plans, which is not reproduced in the available excerpts.

In Andalusia, there is no single article that states “when” a building must be evacuated after an earthquake, but the combination of civil protection regulations and recent practice clearly allows identifying the material and formal requirements demanded for a preventive evacuation.

The basic legal framework is provided, on the one hand, by Law 2/2002, on Emergency Management in Andalusia (and its amendment by Law 2/2023), along with the new Local Civil Protection System regulated by Decree 197/2024, and on the other hand, by Law 17/2015, of the National Civil Protection System and the State Civil Protection Plan for Seismic Risk, approved by resolution of April 9, 2010 (BOE 09‑04‑2010). At the autonomous level, the Territorial Emergency Plan for Civil Protection of Andalusia (PTEAnd), approved by Decree 69/2024 (corrected by the error correction), is the piece that articulates phases, operational situations, and measures such as evacuations or confinements.

Although the Special Emergency Plan for Seismic Risk of Andalusia is not fully transcribed in the consulted sources, its practical application is seen: in the recent magnitude 5 earthquake in Granada, the Junta activated the emergency phase, operational situation 1 of the Seismic Risk Plan and, in that context, at least one building was preventively evacuated in Las Gabias, while firefighters and police marked zones with detachments to prevent access to dangerous areas (Demócrata).

1. Material requirements: accreditation of risk to people

The logic of all civil protection regulations is that evacuation is only ordered when there is a real or reasonably foreseeable risk to life or physical integrity, even if no personal injuries have yet occurred. In practice, that risk is identified based on:

• Visible damage to the building: 112 Andalusia recommends orderly leaving the building when the shaking has caused damage to the building, exiting via stairs and never by elevator (note about Cazalla).
• Signs of structural damage: technical guides cited by Demócrata indicate that large cracks, deformations, tilts, or significant detachments in structural elements are criteria to consider a building unsafe until evaluated by technicians (explanatory article).
• Risk associated with aftershocks: it is taken into account that aftershocks can affect already weakened properties, so precautions are heightened and evacuation can be maintained or extended while seismicity persists.

Additionally, the Junta has created groups of architects expert in damage assessment and is working on color-coded signage to classify the danger of affected buildings, precisely to objectify the decision to allow or not the habitability of properties after earthquakes or other emergencies (Junta-Architects Colleges agreement).

2. Formal requirements and who decides

The decision to preventively evacuate is not made spontaneously by neighbors, but by a civil protection authority:

• At the municipal level, Law 2/2002 and Decree 197/2024 configure the mayor as the highest civil protection authority in the municipality, with the capacity to order evacuations of specific buildings or areas, supported by technical services, firefighters, and local police.
• In larger-scale emergencies, the councilor competent in emergencies (currently Presidency, Health, and Emergencies) can declare emergency phases of the plans (PTEAnd or Seismic Risk Plan) and order evacuations or preventive distancing in wide areas, as is commonly done with floods or forest fires.

Recent storm experiences show how the return to homes is articulated: the Junta has emphasized that return is only authorized with technical-scientific reports (for example, from CSIC and the Andalusian Institute of Geophysics) and after a prior inspection by architects and, if applicable, specialized firefighters (Antonio Sanz's statement). The same criterion applies to evacuations after an earthquake: the order is based on technical reports, and reoccupation requires their validation.

3. Operational procedure and citizen obligations

Once the risk is appreciated and the decision adopted, the operational requirements are:

• Delimitation and marking of the zone: firefighters and police “mark” points with detachment risk to prevent access (Granada earthquake).
• Clear information and orders: evacuation instructions are communicated through 112, loudspeakers, security forces, and, if applicable, the ES-Alert mass notification system managed by the Andalusian Emergency Agency.
• Mandatory nature: evacuations and confinements are mandatory instructions, not mere recommendations, and non-compliance may be sanctionable under civil protection regulations and, if applicable, public safety.

In summary, in Andalusia, the preventive evacuation of buildings after an earthquake requires that there is an appreciable risk to people, identified through visible or potential damage and accredited by specialized technical services; that the measure is adopted within the phases and operational situations of civil protection plans by the competent authority; and that it is implemented through marking, clear evacuation orders, and technical controls prior to any return of residents to their homes.