Gran Canaria locals described it like a ‘steam roller passing by’ (Picture: Getty Images/Westend61)
Gran Canaria, one of Spain’s Canary Islands and a go-to holiday spot for Britons, was shaken by its largest earthquake in 60 years.
The minute-long tremors at 7.20pm local time were initially recorded as high as a 4.2 magnitude quake, according to Spain’s National Geographic Institute.
But officials revised the figure later that evening to 3.8, meaning the quake was likely felt and strong enough to cause minor damage.
The tremor hit at a shallow depth of 20.5km beneath the epicentre near Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, the island’s capital and home to some 380,000 people, The Canary News reported.
Locals in 14 of the island’s 14 municipalities, akin to counties, felt the tremor.
Itahiza Dominguez, director of the Canary Islands of the National Geographic Institute, said it was one of the largest earthquakes to tear through the island in six decades.
The epicentre was off the coast of the island’s capital (Picture: National Geographic Institute)
Locals compared the rumbling from the quake to thunder, with dishes rattling, windows creaking and light fixtures swaying.
‘The bed shook and the wardrobe creaked,’ one resident of Santa Christina, about 10 miles southwest of the epicentre, said. ‘It was quite a shock.’
Another added: ‘It felt like a steamroller passed by.’
No injuries or damage were reported.
Most people reported a weak shaking, categorised as III under the Mercalli intensity scale, though about five reports were lodged of category V shaking up to 12 miles away from the epicentre.
Agaete, Firgas, Arucas, Teror, and Moya were all struck by the tremor, while central areas such as Vega de San Mateo, Valleseco, and Valsequio also felt it.
The Canary Islands see scores of British holidaymakers every year (Picture: Getty Images/iStockphoto)
In towns such as Gáldar, about 25 miles away, and 50 miles south in Ingenio, the quake was felt more faintly. People in Telde and Mogán also said they felt the ground shake.
A woman from Guía said: ‘I didn’t feel a thing and when I heard the news I thought it was a joke.’
Officials have not recorded further aftershocks but have not ruled out further seismic activity.
Gran Canaria, which sits near several fault lines, is no stranger to earthquakes.
A 3.8 tremor shook Vega de San Mateo eight years ago and felt so strongly that even northern towns such as Agaete felt it.
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