Fred James

In Spain natural disasters are excluded from insurance policies.

However every insurance premium includes a significant contribution to the "Consorcio" which is a centrally held fund to cover these "uninsured" losses.

By all accounts, especially after the major floods we had in Andalucia a few years ago, they pay out very efficiently.

Dick Dasterdly

Wondered that myself after the Japanese tragedy, though can't imagine insurance companies even beginning to deal with something that bad.

As far as the structures are concerned, I think there must be a few question marks regarding the more recent building standards in Lorca.

jaks123

hi my daughter lives in torreiveja and said they never felt anything i myself am in the uk (nothing here)x

Fred James

We need to wait and see what the situation really is. Most of the casualties seem to have been from falling masonry after they went outside after the first shock.

I am pretty sure my house would survive such a quake but I would bet that the two chimneys would fall off.

agoreira

Good answer! I'd never heard of it, but a quick google says exactly that, and that they should pay out within 3 months.
http://www.abc.es/20110512/economia/...105121515.html

jackytoo

Seen some videos of many people sleeping out in the open. The authorities didn't provide blankets, camp beds or anything. Surely they could have arranged something, the Japanese did and that was a lot worse.

Some blocks of modern flats seem to have collapsed.

Rosemary

I know that you live in the UK now so have not had the opportunity to see the Spanish news coverage. I can assure you that there were a large number of tents, camp beds, blankets and plenty of food and water set up for the people.

Rosemary

jackytoo

There is the internet you know It was a spanish video I watched and there was nothing except white plastic patio chairs last night. According to the spanish news the tents only arrived today!

Rosemary

I think that you saw the sports ground of the local college. All told there were 30000 people outside last night, I doubt that anywhere could tent that amount of people in what would have been six or seven hours. Quoting the internet, "tens of thousands of residents slept outside in makeshift camps or on the streets." quote p.a.press.net
It is always strange that we see different things isn´t it. Watching the TVE news this morning there were many people in tents and it was still dark.

Graham

agoreira

Yep, the world is a small place, you can watch Spanish tv, read Spanish papers anywhere in the world, that's how I normally keep up to date! TVE A La Carta, no need to miss anything.

mikelincs

The BBC news showed that as well..

Rosemary

So no reason for anyone to think that the authorities have not reacted appropriately. I have nothing but admiration for their endeavours. Watched hours and hours of footage and seen some very distressing sights but also the warmth and helpfulness of the rescuers is very evident. Dealing with 30,000 displaced people is daunting, army personnel were sent immediately and I saw that the Red Cross were on the scene before the second quake.

A very sad business, we should all be congratulating them for their coping skills not knocking them.

Rosemary

jackytoo

FGS...whatever. I make one post on what I saw and some have to turn it into an issue

Relampago

Dick

I'm from Murcia. Do you know how many eartquakes I have suffered in Murcia in all my life? One earthquake! On February 99 and 3.5 of Richter. And it was not of my area

The most seismic zone of Spain is the southeast, Murcia belongs to the southeast Spain, and in Murcia, one of the most seismic areas is Lorca, Mula, etc. And however, earthquakes are rare, so in generations never had consciousness or culture of earthquake. And this happens even in the most seismic country of Europe, Italy, or New Zealand in the "Pacific Ring of Fire"

Dick Dasterdly

Probably only the one that you were aware off.
Minor tremors occur quite often in those high risk areas.
It's only a couple of weeks back that the Spanish news showed the collapsed frontal areas of some cave houses as a result of a minor tremor.
Having been around S.W. Spain a fair bit,I have seen quite a lot of old properties which have been deserted for similar reasons.
Whilst the risk of death or serious injury may not be great, I would think the risk of damage to the foundations of old properties out in the sticks is probably a factor worth considering.
Therefore not being a townie myself,I would definitely count those areas out in any property search.
Apart from that I don't much like the climate there either.