ARCHIVED - Lorca prepares to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the destructive 2011 earthquakes

Memorials are planned in remembrance of the 9 people who died in Lorca on 11^th May 2011

Next Tuesday 11^th May marks the 10^th anniversary of one of the saddest dates in the recent history of Lorca, and the Town Hall will be holding a commemorative event for the victims of the earthquakes which reduced numerous buildings to rubble in the Plaza de España at 19.00.

This will be just minutes after the time at which the second of the major earthquakes of 11ith May 2011 shook the city of Lorca, this one even more destructive than the one which had preceded it, and present at the event will be relatives of those who lost their lives in Lorca that day as well as representatives of the regional government and the Military Emergencies Unit, who were called in to help deal with the chaos in the immediate aftermath of the tremors. A floral offering will be made and music will be performed as Lorca remembers the victims and gives thanks to those who offered their help in restoring order to a city in panic ten years ago.

At the same time, the Town Hall has distributed 5,000 copies of a comic-format guide to the earthquakes of 2011 to local schools, and on Thursday 6^th May an exhibition opens at the Huerto Ruano venue showing photographs of the damage caused by the earthquakes and of the reconstruction program which followed.

On 10^th May a monument will be unveiled in the Parque “11 de Mayo” in the district of La Viña, considered the “ground zero” of the 2011 earthquakes, and nine trees will be planted in a ceremony dedicated to the nine fatalities.