Earthquake in Lorca – Murcia province

Here are the latest facts (from Diario Sur) about the earthquake that hit Lorca, a small town of 93,000 people in the Murcia province of Andalucia:

- May, 11, 2011- First tremor of 4.4 on the Ritcher scale hit around 17:05.
- Location: between 5 and 10 km from Lorca´s center. Earthquake felt in the Murcia province, but also in some cities of Almeria and Albacete provinces.
- Six tremors between 1.4 and 2.3 on the Richter scale follow.
- At 18:47, the largest tremor (5.1 on Richter) hits Lorca, followed by 18 successive tremors between 0.7 and 4 on Richter scale, until 22:45.
- Various buildings collapsed.
- 8 deaths reported so far – 3 people in critical state – 119 people injured.
- At least 10,000 people spent the night outdoors fearing additional tremors. Luckily, the weather was pleasant.
- This was the most mortal earthquake in Spain in the last 50 years.

Marbella weather

Have you noticed the major floods simultaneously occurring around the world this month?
- Australia has an area almost as large as France and Germany combined, completely under water. Hard to comprehend the magnitude of this disaster.
- Several hundred people have been killed in Brazil during a deluge that caused major landslides.
- In Sri Lanka, a million people are affected by floods in the central, north and eastern provinces.
- Four persons drowned and a thousand were affected in Germany when the levels of major rivers rose.

These are exceptional events. Everywhere else the weather is normal, winter-cold in the Northern hemisphere with its usual snow storms, like in Boston where the Mayor just lifted a city snow emergency Thursday, one day after blizzard conditions pounded the city and created hazardous travel conditions across New England….

During that time, it is sunny and 18C in Marbella. The weather forecast predicts the same pattern for the next 10 days…

We feel so privileged to enjoy such a weather while the skies are castigating so many people. Naturally, we also complain about the climate: some find it too hot in summer, others are still reminiscing about last winter when it rained almost constantly for three months, my children vent against a two-degree drop in temperature when we go cycling to school…

The world is the same everywhere: people focus on their own problems and have a hard time empathizing with events occurring far away. And yes, the weather remains Marbella´s principal asset.

Learn Andalusian Spanish – you´ll have fun

Today I visited a local barbershop in the old Marbella. While he was cutting my hair, the barber was speaking to the next customer in line, apparently an old friend of his. They were talking (in Spanish) about computers and were trying to figure the meaning of some English words they sometimes encounter on the net. Soon, the talk moved to the use of spanglish and some typical Andalusian expressions. I thoroughly enjoyed the haircut and significantly improved my Andalusian comprehension.

I am posting below some expressions I heard, plus a couple of links (in Spanish) if you wish to laugh and enjoy la guasa de Andalusia:
- Estoy rebentao: I am tired
- el sangui: sandwich
- Yo soy llanito ahandred pesent: I am Gibraltarian one hundred percent
- Eres mas basto que un petisui de morcilla…: You are so stupid
- Tienes un norte encima: You are unaware of what is going on around you
- 80 Andalusian worlds
- Andalusian saying

New born names in Andalucia

The Statistic Institute of Andalucia just released the popularity ranking of names given to new born in Andalucia for 2009.

The most popular name for girls is Maria, followed by Lucia, Paula and Daniela. The name with the highest popularity increase is Leyre.

The most popular name for boys is Alejandro, followed by Daniel, Pablo and Alvaro. The name with the highest popularity increase is Rayan.

Surprising mortality statistics in Andalucia

The Andalucian Institute of Statistics just issued a press release about the mortality rate during the 2nd trimester of 2009 saying that the number of deaths in Andalucia decreased by 8.4% (!) compared to the same period in 2008.

More than half of the deaths were due to three causes: circulatory system (34.4%), tumors (26.1%), respiratory system (10.2%).

I find surprising that such a significant decrease in mortality rate took place right at the heart of the crisis. I guess stress is much higher when there is work than when there isn’t any…(!)

Unemployment of 45+ population in Andalucia

El Sur reported very telling data regarding the depth of the crisis in Andalucia:
* 21% of all people older than 45 are unemployed in Andalucia.
* 60% of those lost their job in the last two and a half year of crisis.

Hotel trouble on the Costa del Sol

The Sur reported that more than 2,200 people of the Malaga province lost their job in the hotel sector in 2009, representing a 15.9% in total staff reduction.

Two 5-star hotels (Los Monteros and Las Dunas) are closed and in legal proceedings. Five additional 5-star hotels are also in litigation, but remain open: Torrequebrada, Byblos, Incosol, Guadalpin Marbella and Guadalpin Banus. Finally, the hotel Don Carlos in Marbella and las Palmeras in Fuengirola are also under scrutiny.

Not good for the Costa del Sol!

Tough times for Andalucia

The Junta de Andalucia reported that the entrepreneurs’ confidence index in Andalucia was at -61.52 for the third quarter of 2009, and at -70.61 for the first quarter of 2010, indicating general pessimism all around. The press release added that the index for the industrial sector was in the “bad” zone, while for the construction and service sectors it was in the “very bad” zone.

Only 6.9% of companies reported that their situation was better in the fourth quarter of 2009 compared to the same quarter in 2008. 47.7% considered the situation similar to last year, and 45.4% worse than last year.

Tourism in Andalucia – Q4 2009

Here is a summary of the latest statistics issued by the Junta de Andalucia regarding tourism in the region during the last quarter of 2009.

* Almost 3.9 million tourists visited Andalucia in Q4 2009. It represents a 10.1% reduction versus the same quarter of 2008.

* 62.9% of visitors were from Spain, while 37.1% came from abroad.

* 86.1% of visitors came on holidays, 7.1% to visit friends or relatives.

* 74.2% of visitors stayed in hotels, 24.6% stayed in apartments or villas.

* The average stay was 7.2 days.

* Province breakdown: 31.7% of visitors stayed in Malaga, 15.7% in Sevilla, 15.1% in Granada, 12.5% in Cadiz.

* Average daily spending: 60.15 euros – 5% more than in Q4 2008.

* Visitors rated their stay as 7.1 over 10. The highest rated provinces were Cordoba, Sevilla, Jaen.

Andalucia social statistics

The Statistics Institute of Andalusia just issued some interesting data about the natural changes in the Andalusian population during the second quarter of 2009:

* 9,008 marriages were celebrated, 23.9% less than in the second quarter of 2008.

• In 16.1% of marriages, at least one party was a foreigner.
• 1% were same sex marriages.

* 22,698 births were registered, 11% less than in 2008.

• 30.3% of the births were out of wedlock.
• In 14.1% of the births, one parent was a foreigner.

* 15,397 deaths were registered, 8.4% than in 2008.

• In 64.7% of the cases, the person was over 75.