In the early morning hours of August 26, 2024, at 5:11 a.m., many people woke up to the bed, all the furniture in the room and the walls rocking from side to side. The earthquake was a magnitude 5.4 on the Richter scale and was the largest seismic activity in the last 55 years in mainland Portugal. The last one before it occurred at 3:41 a.m. on February 28, 1969, and had a magnitude of 7.3 to 7.9 on the Richter scale. It was accompanied by a small tsunami and 48 aftershocks, that is, repeated, but less active, tremors. In the municipality of Vila do Bispu alone, 400 houses were destroyed. In total, 13 people died during the natural disaster.
This does not take into account the stronger earthquakes that occurred, for example, in Madeira on May 26, 1975 (8.1 on the Richter scale) and in the Azores on January 1, 1980 (7.2 on the Richter scale).
The earthquake of August 26, 2024 struck almost the entire territory of Portugal (and parts of Spain, Gibraltar and northern Morocco). The aftershocks that followed the first one had magnitudes of 1.2, 1.1, 0.9 and 1.0 on the Richter scale and were not felt by the population. No one was killed or injured by the seismic activity that day, but it left behind many questions and fears. Will there be aftershocks again? How often do earthquakes occur in Portugal? How strong will they be? Is the country prepared for a bigger natural disaster? What happens if my house collapses? Does the warning system work? Why hasn't the ANEPC emergency management office sent an alert about the likelihood of a tsunami? What should I do in case of a strong tremor? Which neighborhood to live in is less prone to seismic risks? Can I get insurance in case my home is destroyed due to a disaster? Will there be government support in the event of a disaster? Some of these questions will be answered in this article.
Text in the image:
How is the Sines earthquake different from previous earthquakes?
It occurred at 5:11 and had six aftershocks.
Dark red dot: earthquake.
Red dots: aftershocks.
The most important earthquakes in Portugal. The Azores archipelago is one of the areas of greatest seismic activity because it is located on the boundaries of three plates. The following are the dates of the various earthquakes in Portugal and the Richter scale scores. Clarification from the author of the article: The Richter scale, organized from zero to ten, classifies earthquakes according to their magnitude into: micro (less than 2.0), very small (2.0-2.9), small (3.0-3.9), weak (4.0-4.9), moderate (5.0-5.9), strong (6.0-6.9), large (7.0-7.9), important (8.0-8.9), exceptional (9.0-9.9) and extreme (greater than 10).
If you have felt an earthquake first hand, make sure you help IPMA (O Instituto Português do Mar e da Atmosfera / Portuguese Institute of the Sea and Atmosphere) and fill out a short questionnaire asking about your experience. It is significant to talk about your own experience, not someone else's. In the last question there is a field where you can openly express your opinion, comment on the situation (using Google translator if you don't know Portuguese yet). We, for example, have written, among other things, that there were not enough public alerts to clarify the situation. Since, according to our observations, the residents, at least in our neighborhood, did not go outside (despite the possibility of aftershocks, i.e., aftershocks that may not be weaker) and did not know what to do, partly because the ANEPC (A Autoridade Nacional de Emergência e Proteção Civil) emergency management office did not alert the population in any way. There was also no warning of a possible subsequent tsunami. It took more than half an hour for the first news to appear in the media, and the ANEPC itself limited itself to a Facebook post.
How often earthquakes occur in Portugal
For Portugal, seismic activity is something quite natural. Small earthquakes happen regularly. But the magnitude is usually low, and the population doesn't always even notice them. If you refer to the seismic activity dynamics map from IPMA (O Instituto Português do Mar e da Atmosfera / Portuguese Institute of Sea and Atmosphere), you can see how many seismic movements there have been in the last 30 days.
There are people who are worried whether the terrible earthquake of 1755 (8.7 on the Richter scale), when in 6 minutes the city was almost destroyed (85%) and 100 thousand inhabitants out of 275 died. It was not only the earthquake and aftershocks that contributed to this, but the twenty-meter tsunami and fire that followed. Unfortunately, there is no answer to this question, even with modern methods of obtaining and analyzing information.
In 2023, 124 earthquakes were recorded in the Azores alone, the strongest of which, with a magnitude of 4.3 on the Richter scale, occurred on September 25 on the island of Terceira. Most of the detectable seismicity was concentrated around the Santa Barbara volcano on Terceira (seismogenic zone SZ24), west of Faial (seismogenic zone SZ43) and on the island of São Jorge (seismogenic zone SZ36). More details can be found on the seismicity map of the Azores, on the website of the Institute for Research in Volcanology and Risk Assessment (Instituto de Investigação em Vulcanologia e Avaliação de Riscos).
And a total of 3,997 earthquakes of magnitude up to 5 occurred in or near Portugal in 2023!
- 3 earthquakes with a magnitude greater than 5;
- 37 earthquakes of magnitude 4 to 5;
- 203 earthquakes of magnitude 3 to 4;
- 1828 earthquakes of magnitude 2 to 3;
- 1,926 earthquakes below magnitude 2 that people don't normally feel.
For September 1, 2024, the same source gives the following figures:
- 2,344 earthquakes up to magnitude 5.4:
- 2 earthquakes with a magnitude greater than 5;
- 16 earthquakes of magnitude 4 to 5;
- 109 earthquakes of magnitude 3 to 4;
- 882 earthquakes of magnitude 2 to 3;
- 1,335 earthquakes below magnitude 2 that people don't normally feel.
It is worth emphasizing that not always a high earthquake score is associated with greater damage and casualties, sometimes a weaker disaster can cause more damage. After all, the amount of losses depends significantly on the quality of buildings, the behavior of people at that moment (for example, whether they are in their homes or it is a weekend and many people spend it in nature / whether people die in a panic crush or not), etc. Geophysicist Luis Matias of the Instituto Dom Luis in Lisbon and board member of the Portuguese Society of Earthquake Engineering emphasizes that "it is not earthquakes that kill people, but buildings." For example, in 1969, 13 people died in shocks up to 7.9 magnitude, and 73 people died in the Azores in 1980 in shocks of 7.2 magnitude.
According to the conclusions we drew from expert opinions and research in an article on the impact of the climate crisis on the real estate market, the number and strength of these extremes will increase.
Selection of real estate with consideration of earthquake risk factor
If you are looking to rent, buy a house to live in or invest in Portuguese real estate and it is important to consider the risk of earthquake shaking, it is worth considering the area where the property is located. In the wake of the latest earthquake, idealista has released an overview of neighborhoods that are not only less prone to earthquakes and subsequent possible tsunamis, but also have good infrastructure and more modern properties, including new projects (from the article on idealista you can link to new properties in each neighborhood).
These neighborhoods are: Bragança, Vila Real, Viseu, Castelo Branco and Guarda. The first four made it into our ranking of the "5 most inexpensive cities to live in Portugal in 2022". And Guarda was part of our ranking of the "Safest cities and regions to live in Portugal". And all these cities are mentioned in the lists "Where foreigners buy and rent homes" or "Where in Portugal is the most profitable to buy real estate for long-term rent in Portugal". In the following picture we have marked the cities of the same name, district centers for convenience.
In general, the logic is simple: the farther north and inland you go, the more protected you are from ground shocks and their effects, since these areas are farther from the boundary between the African and Eurasian tectonic plates.
What might be the benefits of investing in areas with low seismic risk:
- Increased safety from earthquakes.
- Savings on building maintenance. The lower the impact of even small earthquakes, the lower the maintenance costs of the houses.
- Savings on housing costs. Among other factors that affect the cost of housing in these areas, it is important that the technical requirements for the construction of buildings are different due to the low risk of seismic events. For a similar budget, it is possible to buy more decent and modern housing than in Lisbon and its surroundings.
- You can afford to buy an older home and save even more on the purchase price. We will talk about this in more detail later on. Until 1958, there were no regulations in Portugal that regulated the seismic activity of an area. If the area is not potentially seismically active, you may be able to afford a less new and cheaper property.
- Increasing real estate values in the future. Property buyers are increasingly beginning to value safety and areas with a low risk of seismic activity.
On the other hand, in addition to earthquakes, there are many other natural disasters that can cause potential disasters. For example, in the north and center of the country, they are high temperatures and fires.
If choosing a property with climate catastrophe factors in mind seems complicated to you, our real estate agents can assist you in making such a request.
Seismic stability of buildings in Portugal
The approach to building construction has evolved step by step since the destruction of the city in 1755, but so many experts warn of the insufficiency of measures and the stretched timeframe for more decisive action. This is to tighten the legal regulations aimed at improving the seismic resistance of structures in new construction and renovation. At the time of 2022, Claudia Pinto, who coordinated the Lisbon City Council project on building safety at the time, said that 60% of the buildings in the city were built before 1958, when no anti-seismic norms were adopted at the national level. On the other hand, two years later, after the earthquake of August 26, Lisbon Mayor Carlos Moedas reassured citizens and said that the city had been preparing for such events for two years, checking the seismic resistance of 1,500 buildings, and carrying out the necessary technical measures. At the moment, only 10% of buildings require anti-seismic reinforcement. Some experts, such as Monica Amaral Ferreira, a researcher at the Higher Technical Institute and a specialist in seismic risk, warns that buildings, including those such as hospitals, are being built in Portugal without seismic protection systems. News headlines alarm readers - "Lisbon and the Algarve are the only areas with seismic risk plans." The truth is that different forces both calming and alarming are in dialogue moving the improvement process forward. And the latest incident gives additional impetus to carry out all sorts of solutions for improvement.
If you buy real estate in Portugal and have a sufficient budget, it is worth looking at newer buildings, the year of construction exactly after 1958. Further, the newer the building, the more rules and restrictions it fell under during construction.
There is currently a European regulation called Eurocode 8, which has been in use in a number of European Community countries, including Portugal, since the end of 2019. This regulation applies to the design and construction of buildings in regions with a high seismic risk. It aims to ensure that buildings will help preserve human life in a disaster, will be subject to less damage, and that structures important for civil protection will be able to function after an earthquake. The Richter scale scores that the regulations take into account depend on the area. For example, in the Algarve it is 7.
Incidentally, significant changes for buildings under reconstruction also came into force in 2019. It has become mandatory (Regulation/Portaria 302/2019), in situations of intervention in existing buildings of some importance, to assess the seismic vulnerability of buildings and, if this assessment is unsatisfactory, it is mandatory to carry out seismic reinforcement of the structure.
So what is the problem if all the regulations exist? To delve deeper into this problem, you can read this recent article. But, in short, it is the lack of strict control of compliance with regulations, including the quality of concrete, especially when it comes to the construction of private and apartment buildings, i.e. not public facilities.
Therefore, when buying real estate, it is worthwhile to be concerned about obtaining information about the seismic resistance of the building. Unfortunately, we cannot give any hints here yet, and this may be the subject of a future article.
Real estate insurance
If you are already a property owner or plan to become one, it is an important step after the purchase to take out real estate insurance. Multi-risk insurance is not always compulsory, but fire insurance is. Multi-risk insurance by default does not include earthquake insurance. This is an additional service at the discretion of the client, which, for example, in Fedelidade can cost an additional, approximately, and 200 and 300 euros per year.
The Portuguese Association of Insurers has divided the country into five zones according to seismic risk: from A to E, with zone A representing the highest risk and where the premium will be the highest. And zone E is the one with the lowest risk, although the rate is common to zones C, D and E. These five zones correspond to three different tariffs. On the other hand, buildings are categorized by age - there are three categories based on the date of construction: before 1960, between 1960 and 1985 and after 1985.
The cost of additional protection against seismic risks will also depend on the percentage of the deductible imposed by the insurer. That is, the part of the cost of damage or property that the client pays himself. It may be 5% or 30% depending on the insurance terms and the wishes of the client. The lower the deductible percentage, the more expensive the insurance will be. Nevertheless, experts recommend, if possible, to take the maximum rates that cover the maximum percentage of damage, especially in areas with high seismic risk.
The risk zones are distributed as follows, based on material from the DecoProTeste website.
Note that there may be differences between municipalities in the same county (e.g. Santareni). It is worth contacting your insurance company to find out more.
- Aveiro: C
- Beja: C
- Braga: D
- Braganza: E
- Castelo Branco: D
- Coimbra: C
- Évora: C
- Faro: A
- Guarda: D
- Leiria: C
- Lisbon: B
- Portalegre: D
- Porto: D
- Santaren: A
- Setubal: B
- Viana do Castelo: C
- Vila Real: E
- Wieseuw: D
Thanks to the earthquake of August 26, 2024, various issues that have already been discussed by society and public associations in previous years have again come to the surface. For example, according to the Portuguese Association of Insurers (Associação Portuguesa de Seguradores or APS), only 19% of all buildings (i.e. only one in five buildings) in Portugal is insured against seismic risks. At the same time, as much as 47% of buildings have no insurance, and only 34% have fire or multi-risk insurance, but without seismic risk coverage.
State support in emergency cases
We were curious how the government could help if a person didn't want, didn't think or couldn't protect himself at the level of real estate, health and life insurance. Or even if he or she did do all that, could he or she expect any support other than direct measures to rescue and eliminate the visible consequences of the disaster.
Unfortunately, we were unable to find information that Portugal has been able to create a fund in recent years that would be used for compensation in extreme situations and natural disasters. One recent internet publication confirms the opposite. In it, author Susana Vichels, PhD in Communication Sciences and Master in Insurance and Finance, warns that Portugal will be unprotected if devastating earthquakes like the one in Lorca (Spain) in 2011 or in Morocco in 2023 occur on its territory.
The recent seismic activity has only added to the arguments of those who believe it is important to establish a mechanism (perhaps in conjunction with insurance companies and the government) to help counter or mitigate losses from a possible intense earthquake. In a sense, the Aug. 26 tremors have also spurred work in some areas to provide measures to address issues that had been bogging down. For example, the Supervisory Authority for Insurance and Pension Funds (A Autoridade de Supervisão de Seguros e Fundos de Pensões or ASF) promises that the Seismic Fund project will be handed over to the government later this year. This work has not been launched now, but has received a clear boost from the events.
But it seems that residents can count on some kind of assistance already now in case of a disaster. For example, we found information that Portugal allocated 31 million euros to people who suffered from fires in 2017. At the same time, 80 thousand euros compensation was paid for the death of a relative, and another 70 thousand euros was paid for suffering before death. There were still additional payments designed to compensate family members for the pain of loss (40 thousand euros in the case of spouses or civil partners, parents and children. In their absence, the basic amount was set at €20,000 for grandparents or brothers who lived with the victim. And in their absence - in the amount of 10 thousand euros for brothers or nephews). The maximum compensation amounted to 300 thousand euros for someone who was left alone because of the tragedy (without parents and close relatives). A total of 114 families were covered by the compensation.
We can probably conclude that in the case of a major disaster a person will not be left alone with the problem, but we can hardly assume what the situation would be in the case of a more massive disaster. Also, we did not find information that any payments were awarded to those who did not have family members killed. Among other things, if you are a property owner, even compensation of this magnitude, which will not make up for the loss of a loved one, may not help you regain your former standard of living either.
Therefore, it seems important to still contact an insurance agent and insure potential risks.
And finally, if you're interested in delving deeper into the topic or you haven't yet experienced an earthquake (and for some reason want to do so), Lisbon has an interactive earthquake museum (The Quake Museum) where you can visit a simulation in a safe environment, learn how tremors and tsunamis are formed; and better understand why Lisbon was so badly affected by the 1755 earthquake.
