Today marks the fifth anniversary of the Lorca earthquake, undoubtedly the most mediatic earthquake to date of all those that have occurred in Europe. There is a before and after in the awareness of a society that lives on active faults. In addition, I see that these days news appear in local newspapers of the pitiful state of hundreds of families who have not yet normalized their status. 

Five years ago the now famous Alhama de Murcia Fault shook three times Eliocroca (Ciudad del Sol), Lorca. That afternoon of May 11, 2011 at 17.05 hours, a first earthquake of 4.5 Degrees magnitude put on notice neighbors, authorities, security forces, emergency ..., but especially the media. For this reason they came to report the news of an earthquake that had not caused serious damage, but had frightened a population that immediately went, following the recommendations by radio and the authorities, to open and safe areas for that well known of the aftershocks.

While local, regional and national radio and television stations recorded the testimonies of surprised and frightened neighbors, at 6:47 p.m., the main earthquake of magnitude 5.1, whose whiplash (basic acceleration) on the ground, buildings and the entire city impacted with unusual violence, was forever engraved in the collective report . Cameras were active, microphones open. The security devices of businesses and offices later served to assess that damage, in many cases irreversible, which impacted the whole of Europe. The tower of Santa María de las Huertas collapsing live was seen all over the world, the belfry of San Diego collapsing and almost trapping several reporters who were covering the news of the first earthquake left us stunned; crushed cars, people running scared, clouds of dust and ambulances everywhere ..., but above all, and in dribs and drabs, we were getting the worst of the news: the victims. In the end there were nine. Few we could say, thanks to the first notice of 4.5, but many after all. It has been two years since a 5.8 earthquake in L'Aquila (Italy) was not preceded by a first notice as it happened in Lorca; the result: 309 victims.

Lorca went down in history. That earthquake of medium magnitude and strong intensity (VII-VIII) marked a before and after in the conception of Spain as a seismic country. Soon those of us who studied the natural phenomenon were able to verify in situ the vehemence and power of Nature, something that dwarfed us. Our construction standards had fallen short, very short. The basic ground acceleration expectations for Lorca which were 0.12g (12% of the acceleration of gravity) had more than tripled (0.37g). We realized that Iberia can cause a lot of damage with moderate earthquakes. The main earthquake was just over 1 km deep and only 2 kms from a historic town of about 90,000 people. The seismic movement was felt throughout Murcia, Almeria, Albacete, Granada, Jaen, Malaga, Alicante, Ciudad Real and Madrid, where the subject ground amplified the movements.

That night, at 10.37 p.m., when the catastrophe had already been assumed, the earth shook again, this time with less intensity; thousands of families went to the countryside or to relatives' homes far from Lorca, and the aftershocks were continuous in the following days. The first estimate of economic losses exceeded 1.65 billion euros.

Today, many of the challenges that such an extraordinary status left us as bequest have not yet been solved. It is true that the reconstruction and much of the damage has already healed or healed; however, the system of aid and compensation sample lacks due to the fact that hundreds of families have not yet normalized their status and complaints of bad practices are accumulating by the hundreds in the courts.

The Lorca earthquakes will go down in history as the most mediatic earthquakes in the history of Europe, the circumstances described above made this possible. Never before had the Earth been captured live in action with such violence, shocking images that, thanks to the mass media, were around the world for several days. Later they relaxed and we technicians began our work. Everything is little when it comes to saving lives; it is our responsibility to be well prepared, no one is free from being affected by a natural catastrophe, neither the rich nor the poor, neither big nor small.