Town of Spanish rocks of earthquake killing 10 people

LORCA, Spain- a rare earthquake shaken the ancient city of Lorca Spain Wednesday causing houses to collapse, damaging the historical churches and killing at least 10 people.

5.3 Earthquake magnitude earthquake sent through the tourist region of Murcia.

A part of the front of a church heavily damaged in the small town collapsed hours after the earthquake, missing few television reporter file a direct report.

"The population is frightened and very afraid to return to their homes." "The whole of the Centre of Lorca was severely damaged," Rafael Gonzalez Tovar, delegate of the central Government to Murcia Rafael, said on national radio.

"There are thousands of people very disoriented."

Television images showed shaken families and children gathering in a square in the city, seeking the safety of buildings fallen masonry and covered with rubble streets.

"We were sitting right here and it all started to move, pictures fell from the wall, TV fell (the earthquake) and a then for ages." We watched the window and there was a lot of people running, an ambulance and the police, "a woman told national radio."

The earthquake at 6: 47 local time, according to data from the National Geographic Institute of the Spain. The U.S. Geological Survey, said that the epicenter was 1 km underground.

A mild magnitude 4.5 earthquake had struck the city which is dependent on agriculture, shortly prior.

The last fatal earthquake to hit the Spain was in 1997, when a person was killed, according to the USGS.

Deputy Prime Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba will travel to the city on Thursday to examine the damage, Office of the Prime Minister, said.

The Government has mobilized military force for the task of 200 men and women to help secure the area, where about 10,000 people have been affected by the earthquake.

Lorca, which has a population of approximately 90,000 people, back to the Bronze age and probably acquired its name from the Romans. The old part of town consists of a network of narrow streets.

The town is built in the shadow of a fortress and its many architectural features include a Roman military column, the Church of San Francisco and doors from San Antonio and medieval enclosure.

At one point in its history, Lorca was a dangerous border town, caught between the Kingdom of Castile and the Moorish Kingdom of Granada. The Easter Fiesta attracts crowds of the Spanish and foreign tourists.

Elsewhere in the Mediterranean, in Rome, thousands of people stayed away from work or school on Wednesday because of the "earthquake fever" on a prediction of old for several decades that a huge earthquake would destroy Rome on May 11, 2011.

A 6.3 magnitude earthquake shook the Central Italy in 2009, killing 295 people, according to the USGS Web site.

Blast rocks Egypt gas Terminal near Israel

An explosion shook a terminal near border with Egypt with Israel of natural gas, on Wednesday, sending flames shooting into the air in the early hours of the morning and forcing the closure of the country's export pipeline.

It was the second attack just last month on al-Sabil terminal near the town of El-Arish just 30 miles (50 km) of Israel. On 27 March, armed men have planted explosives in the terminal, which did not detonate.

Gas flow rate of the main terminal at Port said on the Mediterranean coast has been closed to smother the 65 feet (20 meters) flames, cutting exports of gas for Israel, the Jordan and the Syria. The fire continued to rage well past dawn.

"Those who carried out the explosion have harmed people more than any other Sinai," said Abdul-Wahab Mabrouk, the Governor of the Northern Sinai, by inspecting the site. He said the explosion also damaged the local power plant and the leakage of gas people forced to evacuate their homes.

He complained that the security situation was still weak and there is not enough police.

Maya Etzioni, a spokesman for the Ministry of infrastructure of Israel, confirmed that the gas supply was cut early Wednesday.

Tribes in the region have attacked the pipeline in the past, including the February 5, when a different section was destroyed, export to Israel and the Jordan a month. They also attempt to sabotage the pipeline in July 2010.

Security forces often clash with Bedouins in the Sinai Peninsula, who complain of being neglected and oppressed by the central Government. Tribes are trying to draw attention to their grievances by blocking roads, burning tires, or attacking the infrastructure.

On Tuesday, the news agency reported that the main road in the area was temporarily closed by protest against the families of the detainees until the army reopened it. Attacks by militants on resorts in the South of the Sinai between 2004 and 2006, thousands of Bedouins were arrested, increasing the local resentment of the central Government.

Egyptian forces in the Sinai are regulated by the peace treaty of 1979 with Israel which used to prohibit military forces, in the peninsula, leaving security in the hands of lightly armed police and border guards.

After the popular uprising in January and February, which forced the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak and disintegration of the police force, security has deteriorated further in the Sinai until the army was brought - with Israeli acquiescence.

Israeli infrastructure Minister Uzi Landau told Israeli Army Radio that Israel had allowed the Egyptians to lead military forces over Sinai to protect the pipeline beyond the number of troops authorized by the peace agreement.

"There are a lot of importance to the protection of the peace agreement with the Egypt, and the contract of gas with Israel is perhaps the most important agreement between us and the Egyptians, who founded the peace on a written document"but also on important economic interests "he says.

Asked if Israel has other alternatives if the natural gas supply is not resumed, said, "we are obviously preparing for these things." Israeli gas field known as "tamar" will begin to produce gas in 2013, he said, and will be able to provide gas to Israel needs. In the meantime Israel can produce electricity with coal, diesel and natural gas, it produces already, he said.