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Thousands of Lorca residents have taken refuge outside after two earthquakes killed at least eight people in southern Spain.

´óÏó´«Ã½ website readers in the affected communities share their stories.

A cousin of mine in Lorca left her flat with her dog after the first quake. She was trying to go back into the building but her dog refused - he was whining and pulling back.

That's when the second quake hit. Part of the house crumbled where she had been standing. If it hadn't been for the dog, she would have been in the building and would have died.

I wasn't in Lorca yesterday, but my parents have suffered damage to their house and my neighbour's home is in ruins.

But my father is acting as if everything is back to normal. He told me he's taking his car in for an MOT - I don't even know if the garage will be open!

We had an awfully strong quake in Lorca; my hands were shaking.

People were leaving their homes and there was debris on the streets. We're on a nearby grove, with many people. We're fine, but really scared.

My heart was pounding. I was scared when the second quake hit which felt at least as strong as the first one. At the time I hoped whatever aftershocks came that they were sooner rather than later.

Several aftershocks occurred in the few hours after the initial quake but they were not too strong.

A friend of ours was in the main avenue of Lorca when it happened, she said debris was falling down on pedestrians.

I was in the underground car park at the shopping centre in Lorca when the earthquake struck.

I was sitting in the car when I heard what sounded like an express train going overhead and the ground and the building and all the cars shook very violently. It lasted about 30 seconds.

We left the car park pretty quickly in case another quake struck. As we were leaving Lorca there were fire engines and ambulances driving into the town centre.

When we got home to Velez Rubio our Spanish friend called to say that her apartment building had shaken very badly - we are about 30km from Lorca. We felt a very faint tremor later on.

We live just south-east of Lorca and felt both earthquakes. There was a rumbling noise and the house shook so much a plate fell off the dresser and broke. Very shortly afterwards we could hear sirens.

I drove into Lorca on Wednesday evening to have a look at the damage. It's normally buzzing at that time of night but it is now very subdued. There is rubble and broken glass strewn everywhere.

So many buildings are damaged with cracks, broken tiles and windows. Water is running down the streets from burst water pipes. People are huddled on street corners and plazas, shocked, upset and not knowing what to do.

Many homes have been declared unsafe. People are waiting to be told where they can go. Some people will be sleeping out in the open, while others are leaving in cars to go to friends or family outside the area.

One young couple just had a blanket they'd grabbed and their pet canary in a cage but told me they were happy as they were still alive and had each other.