Earthquake near me: consult live the map of the IGN after the new earthquakes in Granada

The National Geographic Institute (IGN), through the National Seismic Network, treats each earthquake as a living data point: it publishes a very rapid first solution and refines it as new records arrive and analyses are completed. Information on magnitude, location, depth, and intensity can change several times in the hours and even days following, and the catalog is updated continuously rather than in a single “final cut.”

Based on publicly available information and how the IGN itself has managed recent episodes covered by Demócrata (such as the Granada seismic sequence of August 2026), the process can be described in several temporal phases, with different degrees of review.

1. Detection and first estimate (minutes)

When an earthquake occurs in Spain or its surroundings, stations of the National Seismic Network record the signal in near real-time. With these first data, automatic processing systems calculate a preliminary solution:

• Origin time of the earthquake.
• Approximate epicenter location (latitude and longitude).
• Initial depth.
• Preliminary magnitude (in Spain, often local magnitude or moment magnitude, depending on the case).

This first solution is reflected in the first catalog entries and in public earthquake lists, which fill up as new events are detected and located. News about the Granada earthquake note that, “from just minutes after the big shake, the Vega [...] began to record an almost continuous chain of smaller magnitude movements” and that the IGN list “is updated as stations detect and review new events” (Demócrata), giving an idea of the speed of this first phase.

2. Intensive review in the first hours

In the hours immediately following a significant earthquake, the catalog enters a phase of continuous review. IGN technicians incorporate:

• Additional records from more stations of the national network and associated networks.
• Corrections in the reading of wave arrival times.
• Adjustments in subsurface velocity models used to calculate location and depth.

This results in visible changes to the public. In the case of Granada, Demócrata cites that “the latest available IGN entry assigns it a magnitude of 5.0 [...] and a currently revised depth of zero kilometers,” and emphasizes that “the first information disseminated during the early morning placed the hypocenter about two kilometers deep” (Demócrata). That is, in the first hours it is common to have:

• Depth revisions (from a few kilometers to “very shallow,” for example).
• Small magnitude adjustments (hundredths or tenths).
• Some epicentral position corrections within the same area.

In that same time window, the IGN itself, according to several reports, warns that “all these parameters are subject to modifications as seismic analysis continues” and that “all recent information is subject to continuous review.” This warning is part of the standard procedure: data are offered from the start but marked as provisional.

3. Adjustments in subsequent days

Beyond the first hours, additional reviews may occur when magnitude is recalculated with more robust methods (for example, moment magnitude), larger sets of stations are analyzed, or catalogs are homogenized.

A clear example of this phase is the same Granada earthquake: the next day, the newspaper notes that “the earthquake that for much of Saturday was reported as magnitude 5 now appears in the updated National Geographic Institute catalog with moment magnitude Mw 4.8” (Demócrata). The IGN itself insists that “earthquake characteristics can be modified as instrumental analysis progresses.”

In this stage, the assessment of macroseismic intensity (how it was felt in each area) is also consolidated, based on questionnaires and information collected by Civil Protection and other administrations. This intensity may be slightly adjusted as the collection of testimonies and damage data is completed.

4. When are the data considered “final”?

The available information does not describe a single formal moment when the IGN declares the solution for each earthquake closed, but several ideas can be drawn:

• As long as the IGN indicates that data “may be modified” or that information “is subject to continuous review,” they should be considered under review.
• When, after several update cycles, no visible changes in magnitude, depth, or location are recorded and the event is integrated into the historical catalogs, the solution is treated in practice as stable, although minor scientific adjustments may still occur later.
• Recent high-profile episodes show that significant revisions (for example, from 5.0 to Mw 4.8) tend to concentrate in the first days.

In parallel, the IGN maintains “minute-by-minute” monitoring in active sequences, as a geologist noted describing collaboration with the institute in the Cádiz and Málaga series: “we are analyzing it minute by minute [...] whenever there is a seismic series [...] we get going to see the origin, analyze threats [...] and do prevention” (Demócrata).

In summary, rather than a rigid scheme of “preliminary data” and “final data,” the IGN procedure is based on a continuous update cycle: rapid estimation in minutes, intensive review in the first hours, possible recalculations in the following days, and finally consolidation in the catalog as a stable reference for studies, regulations, and emergency planning.

According to Spanish regulations, the competencies of the National Geographic Institute (IGN) in seismic monitoring and, partly, tsunamis are mainly articulated through the State Civil Protection Plan for Seismic Risk and the State Civil Protection Plan for Tsunami Risk, as well as a specific international agreement for the use of seismic data for tsunami alert purposes.

1. Seismic monitoring and National Seismic Network

The clearest framework is in the State Civil Protection Plan for Seismic Risk, approved by Agreement of the Council of Ministers and published by Resolution of March 29, 2010 (BOE-A-2010-5661):

• The Plan defines a Seismic Phenomena Information System whose objective is to provide, with maximum speed and reliability, relevant data about earthquakes that may affect the population and assets in Spain, as a basis for activating emergency plans.
• Within this system, the IGN is the competent governing body for:
  • Planning and management of detection and communication systems for seismic movements in national territory and adjacent areas.
  • Conducting work and studies on seismicity.
  • Coordination of seismic-resistant regulations.
  • Management of the National Seismic Network, which depends on the IGN itself.

The Plan specifies several key operational functions:

• Observation and calculation of seismic parameters (date and time of the event, hypocentral location, magnitude, estimation of affected area, and intensities in municipalities). All obtained from the National Seismic Network.
• “Seismic alert”: rapid communication, by the National Seismic Network (IGN), of focal parameters of any earthquake that may have affected national territory (generally, magnitude ≥ 3.0 or any felt earthquake). This alert includes at least event identifier, date, time, location, and magnitude.
• Subsequent communications: the IGN must inform of any later modifications of earthquake parameters and intensities in affected municipalities, acting as the official and continuous source of data updates.
• Dissemination to Civil Protection: seismic information is transmitted to the Directorate General of Civil Protection and Emergencies following ordinary and emergency-specific procedures, enabling rapid damage estimation and decision-making.
• Support for damage assessment: the plan foresees that, in coordination with Civil Protection, the IGN develops systems and procedures that facilitate mapping and analyses useful for preliminary estimation of earthquake effects on people and infrastructure.
• Permanent monitoring: it is established that seismic information monitoring and processing are “permanently activated,” basically through the IGN seismic monitoring network, intensifying in emergencies.

Additionally, the Plan integrates the Director General of the IGN as a member of the State Coordination Committee (CECO), reinforcing its institutional role in seismic emergency management within the National Civil Protection System.

2. Functions regarding tsunamis and tsunami alert

In the field of tsunamis, the State Civil Protection Plan for Tsunami Risk, approved by Agreement of the Council of Ministers on May 18, 2021 and published by Resolution of May 19, 2021 (BOE-A-2021-8361), relies on the Basic Guideline for Tsunami Risk, approved by Royal Decree 1053/2015 (BOE-A-2015-12570).

The Guideline and Plan establish the creation of a National Tsunami Alert System, conceived as a unique and coordinated system to:

• Early detect the generation of tsunamis that may affect Spanish coasts (location, time of occurrence, and possible consequences).
• Transmit information as quickly as possible to competent civil protection authorities and potentially affected populations, enabling activation of protection and self-protection measures.

Although these texts focus on the alert system architecture and Civil Protection responsibility, the technical role of the IGN as a provider of basic seismic information is implicitly essential, in line with its competencies in seismic monitoring and analysis described in the State Seismic Risk Plan.

This role is explicitly reinforced by the Agreement between the Kingdom of Spain and the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization on the use of primary, auxiliary, and hydroacoustic seismological data for tsunami alert purposes, made in Vienna on June 13, 2022 and published in the BOE (BOE-A-2022-10448):

• Article 1 of the Agreement expressly designates the National Geographic Institute as coordinator of the use, in Spain, of seismological and hydroacoustic data provided by the Commission for tsunami alert purposes.
• The IGN receives these data to integrate them into national monitoring and alert systems, without fund exchange, and with absolute priority for the Treaty verification mission.

3. Summary

Overall, Spanish legislation assigns the IGN a central role in the monitoring, analysis, and dissemination of seismic information (through the National Seismic Network and other means), as well as a technical reference role in feeding tsunami alert systems, including coordinated use of international data. These functions are always exercised in coordination with the National Civil Protection System and its governing and coordinating bodies.

With the information available from the consulted sources, it is not possible to give an exact and closed figure of how many earthquakes with magnitude greater than 4.0 have been recorded in the province of Granada in the last decade. However, data cited from the National Geographic Institute (IGN) catalog allow identifying a clear minimum and an approximate order of magnitude.

Based on IGN reports and references collected in the press, at least the following cases can be documented in the province of Granada since late 2020:

• Atarfe–Santa Fe seismic series (2020–2021): according to the summary of the IGN report cited in several articles, between December 2020 and August 2021 more than 3,000 earthquakes were counted in the Vega de Granada. Of these, the IGN explicitly highlights that six reached magnitude equal to or greater than 4, five between 4.1 and 4.4 and one that reached 4.5 in Cijuela (August 2021).
• Alhendín earthquake (August 15, 2026): the recent Granada sequence is headed by a movement with epicenter northeast of Alhendín. Initially reported as magnitude 5, the IGN later revised it to moment magnitude Mw 4.8. In any case, it is clearly above 4.0 and considered the largest shallow earthquake in the metropolitan area in recent decades.

With just these two blocks of information, it can already be stated that, in the province of Granada, in the last decade there have been at least seven earthquakes with magnitude greater than 4.0:

• Six earthquakes with magnitude ≥4.1 and ≤4.5 in the Atarfe–Santa Fe series (2020–2021).
• One with magnitude 4.8 in Alhendín (August 15, 2026).

It is very likely that the real figure for the full decade is somewhat higher, for two main reasons:

• Articles summarizing the IGN report on the Atarfe–Santa Fe series only quantify events of that specific series (December 2020–August 2021) and do not provide an exhaustive count for the entire province between 2016 and 2026.
• No complete year-by-year tables are provided in the consulted sources for the period 2016–2020 nor for 2022–early 2026, where other isolated episodes with magnitude greater than 4.0 could exist in other areas of the province.

In other words, journalistic documentation based on the IGN allows setting a reliable minimum floor (≥7 earthquakes >4.0), but not an exact total for the entire decade. To obtain a precise figure, one would need to directly access the IGN seismic catalog and apply geographic filters (province of Granada) and magnitude filters (≥4.0) for the complete time interval of interest.

If you want to make that query yourself, the general procedure would be:

• Access the IGN Earthquakes viewer or catalog, accessible from the National Geographic Institute portal.
• Define the search area over the province of Granada (or enter coordinates covering the province).
• Set the time range (for example, from 01/01/2016 to 08/18/2026).
• Set the minimum magnitude filter to 4.0.
• Export the resulting list and count the events.

In summary, with the indirect information available, it can be stated that Granada has recorded at least seven earthquakes with magnitude greater than 4.0 in the last decade, mainly concentrated in the Atarfe–Santa Fe series (2020–2021) and the main Alhendín earthquake of 2026. However, for a complete and numerically exact count, it is essential to directly exploit the official IGN catalog, as the news and summaries consulted do not provide a closed total for the entire 2016–2026 period.