February 28, 1969 Earthquake: Canary Is, Rabat, Sale, Spain, Portugal, Morocco

Ref #1201:

13 deaths.

Ref #1314:

Magnitude 7.8 Mw.

Ref #4139:

February 28, 1969, 02:40:32 UTC, 36.017 N, 10.95 W, depth 22 km, magnitude 7.3 MS, intensity VII. This is a recent instrumental event. Maximum intensity in Algarve, Portugal. Focal mechanism (a thrust with a small strike-slip component) and fault dimensions (80 x 50 km).

Ref #12667:

The 1969, February 28 Mw = 7.8 earthquake is the largest shock occurred during the instrumental period (1920-present) offshore SW of the Iberian Peninsula, at the plate boundary between Eurasia and Africa and with epicenter close to that assumed for the 1755 Lisbon earthquake.

The 1969 earthquake was felt at great part of Iberia and NW Morocco, producing the largest damage along the Atlantic coast of Portugal and Spain.

The maximum intensity value has been assigned to Fonte dos Luzeiros, a small town in Algarve (South Portugal), which was almost totally destroyed by the earthquake (of the 16 houses only one was not destroyed: P1, P3, P5, P7, P6, P9, P11, references from Table 1) (Fig. 2a). We have assigned to this town an intensity value VIII-IX (EMS-98) (Fig. 3a, b).

The total number of casualties due to the 1969 shock was 25 deaths, with more than 80 injured. In Spain 4 people died (3 in Seville and 1 in Badajoz, due to heart attacks and about 10 were injured. In Portugal 13 people died (11 directly due to the earthquake and 2 due to consequence of heavy injures suffered) and 58 injured. In Morocco 8 people died (3 in Safi, 2 in Sale, 2 in Chichaoua, 1 in Imi n'Tanoute) and more than 12 were injured. The high number of victims in Morocco, took place in areas where the maximum intensity was VI, and may be explained by the poor construction and the bad state of preservation of houses, according to the documents the deaths occurred in old houses (MEM, M1, M2, M3).

Ref #1039:

The earthquake of 1969 was felt up to a distance of 1,300 km, from the Canary Islands to southern France (intensity II at places near Bordeaux and Toulouse); although the focus was at more than 200 km from Cape Saint-Vincent (Portugal) and thus 400 km from the Moroccan coast, the shock caused damage and some loss oflife in Portugal, Spain and Morocco.

Ref #14043:

Since the biggest Portuguese earthquake of the twentieth century on 28th February 1969 (8.0 magnitude), which caused 11 deaths due to cardiac disease,