At least ten people including a child have died after a 5.2 earthquake hit the southern Spanish city of Lorca yesterday.
In the worst quake to affect the country for 50 years, dozens of buildings crumbled and residents fled from their homes as debris crushed people, cars and possessions on Wednesday evening.
The earthquake followed an earlier one two hours previously which registered 4.4.
Some 167 people are thought to be injured but emergency services expect to find more casualties as they search the wreckage.
About 10,000 people were evacuated as officials cordoned off the city centre. One TV reporter cheated death after a clock tower came tumbling to the ground just metres from where he was delivering his report to camera.
Lorca sits 120km southwest of British holiday mecca Alicante and aftershocks could be felt across the Murcia region.
In a strange twist, yesterday a large chunk of the residents of Rome opted to take the day off sick after heeding warnings from a seismologist, now dead, who claimed decades ago that there would be a big earthquake on May 11, 2011.
by Dinah Hatch
