Tenerife earthquake leaves tourists terrified as 4.4 magnitude tremor rocks holiday hotspot
Residents and tourists on the Canary Islands reported feeling the tremor just after 6.30am - after two smaller shakes went unnoticed in the early hours
A MAGNITUDE 4.4 earthquake centred between Tenerife and Gran Canaria struck in the early hours of today.
Residents and tourists reported feeling the tremor just after 6.30am - after two smaller shakes went unnoticed in the early hours.
One wrote on social media: "Has there been an earthquake on Tenerife? What a scare!"
Another said: "Earthquake in the centre of Tenerife!"
The National Geographic Institute confirmed the earthquake occurred at 6.36am at a depth of five kilometres and added that a seismic movement of magnitude 1.9 on the Richter scale was registered in the same place a minute earlier.
After the first one, 20 calls were received from people living in the Tenerife municipalities of La Matanza, Tacoronte, La Laguna, Güímar, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Candelaria, Fasnia, Arico and Granadilla, all of which are in the north of the island and not the main tourist zones.
Two other seismic movements were also recorded, one of them at 02.23 hours and of magnitude 1.7, and another at 03.07 and of magnitude 1.9.
The Canary Islands volcanology institute, Involcan, said it was "normal" that such seismic activity would be occurring "now and in the future".
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The organisation said this morning: "All the stations of the Canary Seismic Network (C7) located in Tenerife, Gran Canaria, La Palma, El Hierro and Lanzarote have registered the magnitude 4.4 earthquake, which occurred between Tenerife and Gran Canaria, at 06:36:51 today.
"Friday January 18, 2019 that has been widely felt in Tenerife and in some locations of Gran Canaria. The seismic focus or depth of the earthquake is five kilometres.
"The tectonic activity related to the fault between Tenerife and Gran Canaria is the most probable cause of this earthquake. More information about this earthquake will be provided soon."
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