THOUSANDS OF RESIDENTS of the south eastern Spanish town of Lorca are afraid to return to their homes after the country’s deadliest earthquake in 55 years.

Nine people were killed when two quakes, measuring 4.4 and 5.2 respectively, caused extensive damage to the small agricultural city. Thirty people were hospitalised and tens of thousands of residents slept in cars, hastily built cardboard shelters or outdoors.

Only a few buildings were completely destroyed, but the quakes sent brick building facades and parts of terraces plunging into the streets and caused damage to hundreds of apartment buildings.

Spanish experts say the second quake caused the most damage, and much more damage than would normally be expected from a quake of that magnitude because its epicentre was on the outskirts of Lorca and because it happened at the very shallow depth of only 1km below the ground. The soil around Lorca is also very loose and sandy, meaning it can’t absorb earthquake energy as well as places that have more compact soil.

Spain put earthquake-resistance measures into its building code in the 1960s, but many of the buildings in Lorca pre-date that. The rules are stricter in earthquake-prone areas like Murcia, and inspectors will evaluate whether damaged buildings complied with the code.

In one of the most dramatic images, chunks of stone and brick fell from the bell tower of the San Diego church in the city centre as a reporter for Spanish state TV was broadcasting live from the scene. The church’s bell also crashed down, just missing the reporter.

Witnesses have described the city in the aftermath of the earthquake as looking like a war zone. Eight hundred police and soldiers have been deployed to the city to assist with the clean up.

Watch the mayhem in the aftermath of the Lorca quake:

In pictures (please note some graphic content):