Quake rocks southern Spanish city, at least 10 deaths confirmed

A rare earthquake rocked the small town of Lorca in the southern Spanish region of Murcia causing houses to collapse, damaging historic churches and public buildings and killing at least ten people.

Some reports said the magnitude 5.3 earthquake sent tremors through the region of Murcia and had affected a nursing home and the tower of a church.

"We were just sat here and everything began to move, pictures fell from the wall, the TV fell and (the quake) went on for ages. We looked out of the window and there were a lot of people running, an ambulance and the police," one woman told national radio.

The earthquake struck at 6.47 pm, according to Spain's National Geographical Institute data. The US Geological Survey said the epicentre was one kilometre below the ground.