Torrevieja earthquake plan close to approval

Alot has been written about earthquakes recently, with particular regard to the anniversary of the Torrevieja 1829 quake that caused almost 400 fatalities across the Vega Baja region, and yet the town that was the epicentre, the one most at risk of a repetition, still does not have an approved earthquake plan.

According to the Valencian Community emergency plan for seismic risk, published in 2011, Torrevieja, together with Los Montesinos, Rojales and Benijófar, are the municipalities with the highest seismic risk both due to the probability of a high intensity earthquake and its possible consequences on buildings, infrastructure and personal injury.

The plan also underlines that in a hundredyear period in Torrevieja we could expect an earthquake with an intensity of 6.5 degrees, with one of 8.5 every 500 years.

Just last Thursday evening, just before midnight, we had another warning as a seismic storm of 3.1 degrees with an epicentre just over 10km from the coast of Torrevieja and Guardamar del Segura, was felt up and down the Vega Baja coastline.

Thankfully, according to Proyecto Mastral el Tiempo Torrevieja there were no reports of personal or material damage.

Since the Valencian plan was introduced, 11 years have passed, three large earthquake drills in Torrevieja have taken place, there have been hundreds of micro-earthquakes, but the municipality still lacks a basic protocol for action in the event of a major earthquake. Thankfully though, it is not too far away, and is currently the subject of public consultation after being completed by the company Semerpro Emerg for a cost of 18,029 euros (VAT included).

The document was delivered in February for validation by the Ministry of the Interior of the Generalitat, but unfortunately the autonomous administration returned it stating that it could not give it the go-ahead without it first having undergone a period of public exposure and consultation.

The disbursement of public money that the City Council has had to make is almost residual for the investments it makes annually. Any neighborhood party supposes double what he has had to dispose of for this procedure.

The councillor for Security and Emergencies,

Federico Alarcón, said that when he assumed the powers, at the beginning of the current term, he found an outdated local emergency plan, although without that plan, the seismic risk plan could not have been prepared. Thankfully, now, coinciding with the earthquake drill and the anniversary of the earthquake of March 21, 1829, the plan has been made available for public consultation, for a period of 30 days, in the Boletín Oficial de la Provincia.