Sunday, October 06, 2013

Man made shakes

Investigations into the earthquake at Lorca showed that pumping water from underground may have contributed to the tremor that shook the town causing widespread destruction.

It now seems that man may also be responsible for the 400 small earthquakes that have affected the coastline of Castellón and Tarragona.

Twenty two kilometres east of the town of Vinaroz, there is a 1,750 metre deep reservoir of gas – the co called “Castor” project. The site is an old oil well which is being used to store natural gas. The 1,200 million euro project was approved by the previous government, apparently without consideration of the seismic risk. The reservoir is one of four in Spain that are intended to keep the flow of gas going during a shortage.

The process of storage has been halted pending an investigation.

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