Numerous earthquakes have occurred in the area during the past twelve months, but few have been of sufficient strength to have been felt. Also, they have usually taken place during the daytime, so that their effects are noticed less. The last largish tremor was on 23 March, 2011, but it took place close to midday and, even though it was of the same strength as today's, many people didn't even notice it.
No damage or injury has been reported as a result of today's tremor.
We live in a seismically active area, so tremors and quakes are not at all unusual. Few, however, are as strong as the 1829 earthquake, known as the Torrevieja Quake. This occurred on 21 March, 1829, when numerous towns in the Alicante province were seriously affected, with the most damage being in Almoradí.
Between 1820 and 1830 an unusual amount of seismic activity was registered in the province, especially along the three fault lines of the Bajo Segura (lower Segura): Benijófar, Guardamar del Segura, and Torrevieja.
Between 13 September, 1828 and 21 March, 1829, it is estimated that more than 200 quakes took place. Finally, at a quarter past six in the evening of 21 March, a major quake with a magnitude of 6.6 on the Richter scale, with its epicentre between Benijófar and Torrevieja, caused 389 deaths and 209 injuries, and destroyed more than two thousand homes, with many others badly damaged. The bridges across the river Segura in Almoradí, Benejúzar, Dolores, and Guardamar were all destroyed. Half of the fatalities were in Almoradí, where the roads were narrower than elsewhere and the buildings higher.
In our own Guardamar, 380 houses were completely destroyed, 140 received considerable damage, and 115 suffered fire damage (fortunately, only four people lost their lives and 20 were injured). The medieval town was completely destroyed, so that a new town had to be designed and built. This was done based on a neoclassical plan, having long straight roads with perpendicular intersections and three squares (two small, one large) arranged symmetrically. The new houses were built low and with large yards, in order to minimise the effects of future earthquakes. Stones from the old town were used to build the new. The photo below, dating from 1930, shows the layout of the rebuilt town, with the castle and old town visible in the top right.
(Photo from the book, Guardamar del Segura. Arqueología y Museo available from the Casa de Cultura, Guardamar)
