Costa Blanca earthquake: 'Terrified' Brits shaken out of bed as 'entire buildings move'

Brits on holiday in have been left terrified as a tourist area has been hit with an . Tremors have been felt by holidaymakers and locals in the popular Costa Blanca resort of Torrevieja.

Residents as well as Brits staying in the holiday spot for the holidays told of their shock with one person saying they were "almost thrown out of bed" when the tremors hit just after midnight. The epicentre was just five kilometres from the centre of Torrevieja, according to the National Geographic Institute, with reports suggesting it was a three-magnitude quake.

One local said that the tremor was "the strongest quake I have ever felt in my life," writing on social media while another commented: "Note that I’m used to these types of events, and this was a very loud noise, as if rocks had been breaking deep underground (this is what is often felt when tectonic plates shift). We were probably very close to the epicentre."

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Many other people also wrote online after being left in shock from the earthquake. One person said: "My whole house shook", while another stated: "I’m terrified." A further commented: "In Orihuela Costa there was a lot of noise and vibrations."

One person even said: "I nearly fell out of my bed" while another wrote: "It was pretty noticeable". Dozens of people also contacted the National Geographic Institute, which is the authority which studies earthquakes and their strengths in Spain.

The epicentre was located just five kilometres from Torrevieja , in the province of Alicante, and according to seismographs, it occurred at a depth of 1,000 kilometres. The intensity of the tremor is low but it would have also been felt in the areas of Los Montesinos, San Miguel de Salinas and Pilar de la Horadada.

Last February alerts were sent out to phones in Andalusia The quake had a magnitude of 4.1 and its epicentre was in the town of Cazalla de la Sierra in Sevilla, according to the National Geographic Institute. Tremors were felt in nearly 200 towns across the provinces of Sevilla, Huelva, Cordoba, and Badajoz.

The IGN reported that the earthquake occurred at approximately 3:29 am on February 27, at a depth of 10 kilometres. Adrian Torres, the mayor of Cazalla de la Sierra, stated that the earthquake "was felt quite strongly" in the town. Andalusia is home to cities loved by holidaymakers including Seville, Malaga, Grenada and Cadiz.