Foreword special issue Lorca’s earthquake

(This is an excerpt from the content) On May 11 2011 at 1705 hours, a small 4.5 Mw. magnitude earthquake struck the town of Lorca in south-eastern Spain. Other than alarmed citizens, only minor damage to buildings occurred due to this quake. Unfortunately at 1847 hours, a second shock registering a magnitude of 5.1 Mw. and very shallow (just around 2 km under the city) produced the largest seismic catastrophe registered in Spain in the last 120 years. This second shock is commonly referred to as “Lorca’s earthquake” and the following papers describe the context, circumstances and consequences of the event. Spain is a country of moderate seismic hazard in a global context. Before the Lorca earthquake, the most destructive earthquake in modern times was the so-called “Andalusian earthquake” (25th December 1884) that resulted in 750 fatalities and more than 1,500 injuries, reaching X in Mercalli’s intensity scale. Despite the lack of catastrophic events in the last 120 years, Spain has always had a scientific interest in seismic ...