Two Earthquakes hit Spain. Why so many Earthquakes lately?

An earthquake measuring 5.3 hit a town in southeast Spain today
causing houses to collapse, damaging historic churches and killing at
least six people.

Some reports said that the rare earthquake
in Lorca, sent tremors through the region of Murcia and had affected a
nursing home and the tower of an important church in the town which is
dependent on farming.

The large quake struck the community on Wednesday evening, two hours after a moderate 4.7 earthquake hit the town.

A 5.3 magnitude quake struck the small town of
Lorca in Murcia today, with at least five people killed by cave-ins and
falling debris

'Unfortunately, we can confirm ... deaths due to cave-ins and falling
debris,' the mayor of Lorca, Francisco Jodar, told radio station Ser.

'We're trying to find out if there are people inside the collapsed houses.'

A Murcia government spokesman said on the radio that six people had been killed in the earthquake.

The
quake hit at 6:47 p.m., according to data from Spain's National
Geographical Institute. The U.S Geological Survey said the epicentre was
1 km below the ground.

Lorca, which has a population of about
90,000 people, dates back to the Bronze Age and probably gained its
name from the Romans. The old part of the town is made up of a network
of narrow alleyways.

The quake was reportedly felt across Murcia, with tremors registered in Cartagena, Aguilas and as far away as Albacete.

A
moderate earthquake measuring around 4.5 had hit Lorca just after 5pm
local time today, causing buildings to shake and damaging private houses
and buildings.

Approximately two hours later, the larger quake
struck near Lorca, reportedly causing the roof of a nursing home to
collapse, damaging a number of other buildings and splitting the tower
of the church of Santiago in the town.

In 2005, more than 900 homes in Lorca were wrecked by an earthquake measuring 4.7 on the Richter scale.

Struck: Aftershocks from the earthquake were felt throughout Murcia

Today's earthquakes came as thousands fled Rome in fear that a 96-year-old prediction of a large earthquake would prove true.

The
panic started after seismologist Raffaele Bendandi predicted in 1915
that a huge earthquake would strike Rome on May 11, 2011 and thanks to
the internet word quickly spread.

Officials at the National
Vulcanolgy and Seismology Institute, which is based in Rome, held an
open day to try and convince people that earthquakes could not be
predicted and the council was flooded with worried calls.

Mayor
Gianni Alemanno and Enzo Boschi, president of the Institute spent the
day trying to reassure locals there really was nothing to panic about.
Mr Boschi said: ‘Rome is not at risk of any earthquake.