By Dave Jamieson
A strong earthquake, the second major tremor in four days, rocked much of the coast of Andalucía early on Monday morning (January 25).
One child died in northern Morocco – the victim of a heart attack – and up to 26 people were reportedly injured in the Spanish North African enclave of Melilla as debris fell from the façades of buildings.
The quake struck at 5.22am, rattling windows, swaying light fittings and waking sleepers. The National Geophysical Institute reported that it measured 6.3 on the Richter scale, the strongest in the area since the magnitude 7 tremor in Granada during March 1954, and was followed by many aftershocks, the first of which at 5.35am measured 3.8.
The epicentre was less than 10 kilometres below the Alborán Sea, 62 kilometres north of Alhucemas on the Moroccan coast and 160 kilometres south of Málaga
