The official added that the earthquake did not impact the autonomous region.
“In routine contacts with all municipal civil protection services and (…) civil protection agents, namely the fire brigades, there is no record anywhere in the region of any situation where it was felt,” he clarified.
The earthquake’s epicenter was located about 520 kilometers north-northwest of Porto Santo Island and was recorded by the Mainland Seismic Network at 02:29 today, noted the Portuguese Institute for Sea and Atmosphere (IPMA).
In a statement, the IPMA reported that the earthquake caused no personal or material damage and was felt with a maximum intensity of II-III (modified Mercalli scale) in the Madeira region and with lesser intensity in the regions of Setúbal and Lisbon.
According to the Richter scale, earthquakes are classified by their magnitude as micro (less than 2.0), very small (2.0-2.9), small (3.0-3.9), light (4.0-4.9), moderate (5.0-5.9), strong (6.0-6.9), major (7.0-7.9), significant (8.0-8.9), exceptional (9.0-9.9), and extreme (when greater than 10).
The Modified Mercalli scale measures the “degrees of intensity and respective description.”
According to this scale, a maximum intensity of II indicates that the tremor might be “felt by people at rest in the upper floors of buildings.”
An intensity of III, considered weak, means the tremor is felt indoors, with hanging objects swaying, resembling “vibration similar to the passage of heavy vehicles,” reveals the IPMA on its website.
