Weather and Nature

Earthquake today in Spain

Quakes recorded in the Spain area over the past weeks, newest first.

Automatic information from scientific catalogues. In an emergency, follow your local emergency service and geological survey.

Magnitude

4.0

Light (4 to 4.9)

SPAIN · 10/15/26, 8:34 PM UTC

Value

25

Magnitude ≥ 2,5 · 30 day

MagnitudePlaceWhenDepthCategory
4.0SPAIN10/15/26, 8:34 PM UTC9 kmLight (4 to 4.9)
2.5STRAIT OF GIBRALTAR10/14/26, 10:07 PM UTC35 kmMinor (2 to 3.9)
2.8NORTHERN ALGERIA10/14/26, 4:51 PM UTC7 kmMinor (2 to 3.9)
3.4PYRENEES10/9/26, 8:49 AM UTC3 kmMinor (2 to 3.9)
2.6PYRENEES10/9/26, 8:42 AM UTC0 kmMinor (2 to 3.9)
2.8AZORES-CAPE ST. VINCENT RIDGE10/9/26, 3:03 AM UTC28 kmMinor (2 to 3.9)
2.5WEST OF GIBRALTAR10/8/26, 6:03 AM UTC18 kmMinor (2 to 3.9)
2.6STRAIT OF GIBRALTAR10/8/26, 5:43 AM UTC13 kmMinor (2 to 3.9)
2.5PYRENEES10/6/26, 1:26 AM UTC0 kmMinor (2 to 3.9)
2.9SPAIN10/5/26, 3:56 AM UTC10 kmMinor (2 to 3.9)
3.4MADEIRA ISLANDS, PORTUGAL REGION10/5/26, 2:29 AM UTC10 kmMinor (2 to 3.9)
3.2BALEARIC ISLANDS, SPAIN10/3/26, 5:36 PM UTC0 kmMinor (2 to 3.9)
3.1SPAIN10/3/26, 5:05 PM UTC0 kmMinor (2 to 3.9)
3.2CANARY ISLANDS, SPAIN REGION10/2/26, 4:06 AM UTC5 kmMinor (2 to 3.9)
3.0SPAIN9/30/26, 4:31 AM UTC7 kmMinor (2 to 3.9)
3.1SPAIN9/30/26, 12:04 AM UTC3 kmMinor (2 to 3.9)
2.8SPAIN9/29/26, 8:23 PM UTC3 kmMinor (2 to 3.9)
2.9STRAIT OF GIBRALTAR9/29/26, 10:39 AM UTC50 kmMinor (2 to 3.9)
2.8MOROCCO9/28/26, 6:04 AM UTC12 kmMinor (2 to 3.9)
2.8STRAIT OF GIBRALTAR9/27/26, 10:24 AM UTC50 kmMinor (2 to 3.9)
2.5PORTUGAL9/26/26, 12:56 PM UTC10 kmMinor (2 to 3.9)
2.9SPAIN9/25/26, 11:25 PM UTC4 kmMinor (2 to 3.9)
2.94 km S of Abanilla, Spain9/25/26, 9:04 AM UTC10 kmMinor (2 to 3.9)
2.6WEST OF GIBRALTAR9/24/26, 5:27 PM UTC30 kmMinor (2 to 3.9)
2.5WEST OF GIBRALTAR9/24/26, 2:47 AM UTC18 kmMinor (2 to 3.9)
Magnitude and date of Spain earthquakes over the last 30 daysScatter chart of the 25 earthquakes recorded in Spain over the last 30 days: date on the horizontal axis, magnitude on the vertical, with the circle growing with magnitude. The largest in the window reached 4.0.2.53.03.54.0MagnitudeSep 16, 2026Sep 23, 2026Oct 01, 2026Oct 08, 2026Oct 16, 20264.0
Our own chart, from the same 30-day list for Spain shown above.

How to read these numbers

Position: 26.6° / 44.9° lat, -19.1° / 5.5° lon

Range

RangeWhat it means
Micro (below 2)Only seismographs record it. Nobody feels it.
Minor (2 to 3.9)Sometimes felt near the epicentre, no damage.
Light (4 to 4.9)Widely felt, objects rattle, damage is rare.
Moderate (5 to 5.9)Damage to weak buildings near the epicentre.
Strong (6 to 6.9)Can destroy buildings up to a hundred kilometres away.
Major (7 to 7.9)Serious damage over a wide area.
Great (8 and above)Destruction across hundreds of kilometres; tsunami risk.

Choose a region

How to read this page

How to read magnitude

Each whole point of magnitude multiplies the energy released by about 31.6. Between the largest on this list (4.0) and one of magnitude 2.5 the gap is orders of magnitude, not percent.

Where the list comes from

The 25 records come from the USGS catalogue (and, in Europe, from EMSC), filtered by the coordinate box for Spain: 26.6° / 44.9° lat, -19.1° / 5.5° lon. Each row’s time is the catalogue’s own, in UTC.

Preliminary data

Magnitude and depth in the first hours are preliminary and shift as more stations enter the solution. This page issues no warnings and does not replace civil protection authorities.

What to do during shaking

The official advice is to drop, cover your head and hold on to something firm, away from windows, until the shaking stops. The full guide is on the United States preparedness portal.

Ready.gov — Earthquakes

Understanding seismic activity in Spain

How often did the ground shake in Spain in the last 30 days?

Over the last 30 days the catalogue recorded 25 earthquakes of magnitude 2.5 or above in the Spain area, an average of 5.8 a week across the window this page covers.

Of the Spain list, 24 came in below magnitude 4 (felt nearby, no damage), 1 between 4 and 5 and 0 at 5 or above — the normal proportion for any seismic region: many small, few large.

What does magnitude 4.0 mean in Spain?

The largest event in the window for Spain was magnitude 4.0 (Light (4 to 4.9)), at SPAIN, on 10/15/26, 8:34 PM UTC. The scale is logarithmic: that event released roughly 178 times more energy than one of magnitude 2.5. Between 4 and 5 the shaking wakes people and moves objects on shelves, rarely going beyond cracked plaster.

Why does Spain have earthquakes?

The area this page covers (26.6° / 44.9° lat, -19.1° / 5.5° lon) lies outside the great Pacific subduction zones. Quakes there tend to come from intraplate faults or slower plate boundaries, which normally means less frequent events — not impossible ones. The median depth across this list is 10 km, and 100% of them are shallow (under 70 km), the band that shakes the surface hardest.

Words on this page

Magnitude

A measure of the size of an earthquake at its source, on a logarithmic scale: each whole point multiplies the energy released by about 31.6. A magnitude 7 event releases a thousand times more energy than a magnitude 5, not 1.4 times.

Standard definition by U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) — ANSS ComCat · Magnitude

Richter and moment magnitude

The Richter scale, from 1935, was calibrated for Californian seismographs and saturates: above 7 it stops separating events. Agencies now publish moment magnitude (Mw), computed from the seismic moment — fault area, slip and rock rigidity. That is what the news still calls "the Richter scale".

Standard definition by U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) — ANSS ComCat · Richter and moment magnitude

Focal depth

How many kilometres below the surface the rupture began. The USGS calls it shallow up to 70 km, intermediate from 70 to 300 km and deep beyond that. A shallow quake shakes the surface far harder than a deep one of the same magnitude.

Standard definition by U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) — ANSS ComCat · Focal depth

Epicentre

The point on the surface directly above the earthquake’s focus, where the rupture began. The place a catalogue names is the nearest geographical reference to the epicentre, not necessarily the worst-hit town: that depends on depth and on ground type.

Epicentre

Preliminary data

A measurement published as soon as it is collected, before the agency’s final review. It can be corrected or withdrawn: earthquake magnitudes shift in the first hours, air-quality readings are revised weeks later. Use it to plan your day, not for regulatory or legal purposes.

Preliminary data

Aftershock

A smaller earthquake following a larger one on the same fault, while the rock settles into its new distribution of stress. Aftershocks are most frequent in the first hours and can continue for months, always below the magnitude of the main event.

Aftershock

See the full environment and live data glossary

Data from 10/16/26, 1:22 AM UTC

  • Dados de cidades: GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)

How to read these numbers

The query uses a coordinate box around Spain, shown at the end of the page. The list can therefore include an event just across the border or offshore, which is useful: a strong quake a hundred kilometres out to sea is still felt on land.

Frequently asked questions

Was there an earthquake in Spain today?
If the first row carries today’s date, yes. When there is no recent event, the table shows earlier quakes from the queried period so you have a reference.
Why are small quakes listed here?
Where the seismic network is dense, the catalogue records low magnitudes that nobody feels. That makes a well monitored region look more active than one with few stations.

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