Staff at Silves’ Dr. Garcia Domingues school has been talking of the generalised panic this morning as they were forced to evacuate 200 terrified children following the earthquake that shook the Algarve.
“Doors and windows started rattling and shaking,” a source from the school told Lusa news agency, adding that the evacuation went “according to plan” and classes were soon resumed as no injuries or after-shocks were reported.
The quake, measuring 3.4 on the Richter’s scale, startled hundreds of people throughout the region as they began the day – and was described by some who felt it as “like being on top of a gigantic underground wave”.
The effects were felt from Lagos to Albufeira, but were strongest in the Silves and Portimão areas.
IPMA, Portugal’s sea and atmosphere institute, has confirmed that the epicenter was in Silves and that it hit at 9.39am.
