Earthquake wakes Majorca residents

One neighbour tweeted that there were "vibrations in the houses and dogs barking.” @tomeumallorca

The National Geographic Institute says it measured between 2 and 3 on the Richter scale and the epicenter was between Petra and Manacor at a depth of 9 kilometres.

According to experts, several factors are taken into account when determining whether an earthquake will be a danger to the population including, the intensity, the geological conditions of the land, the energy released, and the depth of the epicenter.

In general, earthquakes measuring less than two degrees are only recorded by measuring devices; those up to 4 degrees don’t usually cause any damage, and between 5 and 6 can cause serious damage to structures. Anything beyond these levels is considered a major earthquake and extremely dangerous.

No material or personal damages were reported during the earthquake in Majorca this morning.

There are occasional earthquakes in Majorca at low levels of intensity. The strongest earthquake in the past now 101 years was in the same area as today's; this happened in 1919. There was one in 1995 that shook Campos, while in 2003 there was an earthquake with a magnitude of seven in Algeria. This was felt in Majorca and caused some alarm in southern areas of the island.

In 1851, Palma suffered a damaging earthquake, and there was an earlier one in 1660.