Portugal was rocked by an earthquake on Monday. According to the media, tremors were felt as far away as Spain and Morocco. No casualties or major damage were avoided, authorities said.
The earthquake occurred at 5.11:6.11 a.m. local time (XNUMX:XNUMX a.m. CEST). Firefighters received many calls from concerned people. Four weaker aftershocks were also recorded. There was no danger of a tsunami.
Surveillance cameras captured the shaking in empty rooms and stores. State television the station RTP showed, among other things, a video in which a frightened man runs out into the street and says in English: "There has been an earthquake. I woke up in the middle of the night and thought what a nightmare. It was like a building collapsing." But there was no panic in the country.
Prime Minister Luís Montenegro emphasized that the population remained calm. "Without panic, we will continue to work on prevention and the ability to respond to keep everyone safe," he wrote on the X Network.
According to the Portuguese Maritime and Atmospheric Institute (IPMA), the magnitude of the earthquake was 5,3. Its epicenter was off the coast of the country in the Atlantic more than 80 km southwest of Lisbon, at a depth of almost 11 km.
The last time a strong earthquake hit the Iberian Peninsula was in 1969. Then a total of seven people died in Portugal and Spain. in 1755 earthquakes in Lisbon killed between 30 and 000 people. It was one of the biggest disasters in Europe.
Rasa Strimaitytė (ELTA)
