Earthquake on the coast of southern Spain rattles a dozen towns in Andalucia

A 3.7 MAGNITUDE earthquake struck the coast of Spain early on Monday.

According to the National Geographic Institute (IGN), the epicentre of the tremor was located five kilometres below the town of Adra in Almeria.

The earthquake struck at 10.25am local time and was felt in over a dozen towns in Almeria and Granada.

Earthquakes that fall between 3.0 and 3.9 on the Richter scale are considered minor, with damage very rare even if tremors can be felt and objects inside buildings begin to shake.

According to the IGN, the 3.4 magnitude earthquake was preceded by two smaller tremors in the Alboran Sea – the strip of the Mediterranean between the Iberian Peninsula and the northern coast of Africa – registered as magnitude 2.2 and 1.9