The earthquake that was registered on Friday morning by the National Geographic Institute (IGN) has been the largest earthquake registered in the Canary Islands in the last five years, with a magnitude of 4.8 mbLg, and has had three aftershocks, although of lesser magnitude: 3.3, 2.5, and 2.4 for the weakest.
The seismic network of the National Geographic Institute (IGN) in the Canary Islands registered the 4.8 magnitude earthquake in the Atlantic, about 61 kilometers north of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.
The seismic event, which was felt in Gran Canaria, Tenerife, and Fuerteventura, occurred at 9:50 AM (Canary time), with its epicenter at sea and a focal depth of 30 kilometers.
Sources from the IGN consulted by EFE point to a tectonic origin for this earthquake, as well as for the aftershocks, which were not felt by the population.
Aftershocks are common in earthquakes of a certain magnitude, although this does not usually happen in the case of the Canary Islands, the sources add.
These occurred at 9:24 AM (magnitude 2.4), 9:43 AM (magnitude 3.3), and 10:21 AM (2.5), all at the same depth: 30 kilometers.
The data collected by the IGN attributes an intensity of III, or weak, to the 4.8 magnitude earthquake, according to the European macroseismic scale, which ranges from I (not felt) to XII (completely devastating).
Seismic events of intensity III are classified as those in which a slight tremor of the building is noticed and hanging objects oscillate slightly, but no damage is reported.
The coordinates where the epicenter was located are about 61 kilometers north of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, 105 kilometers northeast of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, and about 117 kilometers west of the northern coast of Fuerteventura and approximately 123 kilometers from the south of Lanzarote.
With intensity III, it was felt in about thirty locations in the northern half of Gran Canaria, as well as in the municipalities of Pájara and Puerto del Rosario, in Fuerteventura.
And with intensity II (barely felt), it was perceived in several dozen locations in Tenerife, Gran Canaria, and Fuerteventura.
About 35 minutes earlier, at 9:15 AM, another earthquake of magnitude 2.1 had occurred between Gran Canaria and Tenerife, in the underwater depths located between the two islands.
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