An offshore quake, bordering an area earmarked for future oil and gas exploration, registered 4.6 on the Richter scale on Tuesday morning and was felt in the north and centre of the country as well as in Spain.
National reports have largely played down the quake – right inside the concession area known as Camarão – saying that for now there have been no reports of any damage or injuries.
But UK tabloid the Express has already run with a sensationalist report, increasing the quake’s Richter reading to 5.2.
Says the paper, locals in Porto were sent into a “frenzy” while holidaymakers too went into “panic mode”.
Certainly one hotel in Porto shook (if not more) as “residents reported massive vibrations which caused their houses to shake following oncoming tremors which radiated throughout the region”.
The Express adds that “one resident in Coimbra said they felt the building sway for about 20 seconds, after two oncoming waves of tremors.
“It felt like a gentle sway of the building, and the structure was heard to be stretched, but without any noise or intense crackling.
“The first wave was very noticeable, but it was the second that was stronger, followed by soft replicas that lasted for about 20 seconds,” said the resident.
Another witness in Santa Maria da Feira, 181 km from the epicentre, wrote: “I heard a loud noise, followed by a great shake and a shock after several seconds. My house is in stone and shaken whole. My bed kept shaking for several seconds”.
But the bottom line is that now, five hours since the quake first hit, there has still been no report of adverse consequences.
Diário de Notícias concludes its text on the incident saying that the north of the country is actually considered relatively low on the scale of earthquake-risks.
Areas where quakes are far more likely remain “those of the Algarve, Lisbon and lower valley of the Tejo”, stressed geophysicist Fernando Carrilho, while anti-oil activists have remarked that not only was the quake within one concession area, the next door site dubbed Ameijoas would almost certainly also have been affected.
The anti-oil lobby has long cited Portugal’s constant earthquake activity (most of it passing unnoticed onshore) as another very strong argument against turning offshore areas into drill sites.
natasha.donn@algarveresident.com
