Costa del Sol trembles in series of earthquakes
Last Friday saw the second biggest tremor to hit Malaga in 100 years: magnitude 4.9 with its epicentre in Fuengirola
SUR
MALAGA.
Friday, 12 December 2025, 11:57
Five earthquakes, most of them small, have been registered with their epicentres on or close to the Costa del Sol so far this month. Alarm bells rang last Friday morning as a 4.9-magnitude quake shook the province at 10.38am. The epicentre of this tremor was in Fuengirola and 77 kilometres deep, and was felt in Malaga and numerous towns and villages around the province.
The Fuengirola tremor last week was the second biggest to be recorded with its centre in the province of Malaga in the last 100 years.
Earthquakes of this magnitude are not common, but according to sources at the seismic institute, "they are not extraordinary either", as they are recorded "from time to time".
The Fuengirola tremor was the biggest of five earthquakes to be recorded in the province of Malaga so far this month.
On Monday 1 December, the national geographic institute (IGN) recorded a tremor measuring 3.2 in the early hours of the morning, with its epicentre in Estepona. That earthquake occurred at 6am and was located at a depth of 52 kilometres.
The following day another tremor was recorded in Valle de Abdalajís with a magnitude of 2 and its epicentre just a kilometre underground.
Later this week an earthquake of magnitude 2.5 was recorded in the village of Iznate at 9.18am on Wednesday, at a depth of 19 kilometres. This was followed on Thursday morning with another small tremor in the same village.
The national geographic institute (IGN) classified it as a low-magnitude event, although it is of interest as it is the fifth earthquake to strike the province so far this month. No damage or injuries have been reported as a result of the tremors.
The biggest earthquake recorded in Malaga province was south-east of Almogía in August 1976, reaching a magnitude of 5.4.
The ground also shook in Malaga on 25 January 2016 when an earthquake, whose epicentre was in the Alboran Sea, woke many up around the province. This quake was of magnitude 6.3 and caused damage in Melilla and Morocco.
