A rare earthquake has hit an ancient town called Lorca in southeastern Spain causing houses to collapse, damaging historic churches and public buildings and killed at least eight people.
The 5.3 magnitude earthquake sent tremors through the popular touristic region of Murcia and had affected a nursing home and the tower of an important church in the town of Lorca, which is dependent on farming.
Part of the front of a badly damaged church in the small town collapsed hours after the quake, narrowly missing a television reporter while filing a live report.
The quake struck at 6.47pm (5.47pm Irish time) with a depth of 10km and could be felt in the capital Madrid.
The last fatal earthquake to hit Spain was in 1997, when one person was killed, according to the USGS.
Lorca, which has a population of about 90,000 people, dates back to the Bronze Age and probably gained its name from the Romans. The old part of the town is made up of a network of narrow alleyways.
The town is built in the shadow of a fortress and its many architectural features include a Roman military column, the Church of San Francisco and medieval walls and gates of San Antonio.
Television footage showed that a church clock tower had crashed into the street below.
Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero was informed of the disaster while he was in a meeting with King Juan Carlos.
The king and prime minister then spoke to the president of the Murcia region and Mr Zapatero immediately ordered the deployment of emergency military units to the area.
Earthquake damage was concentrated on the towns of Lorca and Totana, but also spread as far as Albacete and Velez-Rubio in Almeria.
The Department of Foreign Affairs has said that it is not aware of any Irish people who have been affected by this evening's earthquake in Spain.
