Earthquake hits Mediterranean sea off Spain

An earthquake measuring 6.3 on the Richter Scale affected areas on the north coast of Morocco and the south of Spain in the early hours of Monday morning.

The epicenter of the quake, which happened at 4:22 a.m. local time, was in the Mediterranean Sea between Spain and Morocco in an area known as the 'Sea of Alboran' and by 8 a.m. a total of nine aftershocks had been registered, the strongest of which measured 4.5 on the Richter Scale.

Although the quake was felt in Spanish cities such as Almeria, Malaga, Granada and even in Seville, the effects were mostly noted in the Spanish enclave of Melilla, where hundreds of people took to the street for fear of their homes collapsing.

There have been no casualty reports from the quake, which happened at a depth of 10 km, although substantial material damage was caused in Melilla was "cracks in buildings, and parts of facades and balconies which have collapsed."

Authorities in the city have decided to keep schools and colleges closed in order to carry out safety checks.

The area in the Sea of Alboran where the earthquake happened is an area of seismic activity as it is on the boundary between the European and African plates, which constantly cause small-scale earth tremors in the region. The most destructive incident recently was in May 2011 when a quake measuring 5.1 caused nine deaths in the Spanish city of Lorca. Endit