Debris litters town in deadly Spanish earthquake

Scenes from the town of Lorca after the quake. Photo / Arturo Latorre

A rare earthquake rocked the ancient town of Lorca in southeastern Spain early this morning (NZ time) causing homes to collapse, damaging historic churches and killing at least 10 people.

The 5.3 magnitude earthquake sent tremors through the popular tourist region.

Part of the front of a badly damaged church in the small town collapsed hours after the quake, narrowly missing a television reporter filing a live report.

The epicentre of the quakes - with magnitudes of 4.4 and 5.3 - was close to the historic town of Lorca, in the Murcia region. The second tremblor struck two hours after the first.

The prime minister's office put the death toll at ten. It's unclear how many people have been hurt.

Lorca's mayor Francisco Jodar said: "Unfortunately people have died as a result of cave-ins and falling debris. We're trying to find out if people have been trapped inside the collapsed houses."

The Murcia regional government said a hospital in Lorca was evacuated, with dozens of injured people were being treated at the scene. It said the ten deaths occurred with the second, stronger quake.

Large chunks of stone and brick fell from the facade of a church in Lorca as Spanish state TV was broadcasting live from the scene. A large church bell was also among the rubble. The broadcaster reported that schoolchildren usually gather at that spot around that time, and if it had happened 10 minutes later, a "tragedy" could have occurred.

Spanish TV showed images of cars that were partially crushed by falling rubble, and large cracks in buildings.

A doctor told the online edition of

El Pais

that she and her colleagues went into the streets and treated people with serious injuries "many unconscious".

"The ambulances could not reach them. They took more than 40 minutes," she said.

"I felt a tremendously strong movement, followed by a lot of noise, and I was really frightened,"

El Pais

quoted Lorca resident Juani Avellanada as saying.

A resident, Juana Ruiz, said her house split open with the quake and "all the furniture fell over," according to El Pais.