The quake was preceded by a magnitude 4.4 (Mw) foreshock at 17:05 (15:05 UTC), that inflicted substantial damage to many older structures in the area, including the historical Espolón Tower of Lorca Castle, the Hermitage of San Clemente and the Convent of Virgen de Las Huertas.

In Lorca, near the epicentre of the quake, strong ground motions registered a maximum intensity of VI on the Mercalli scale, while many adjacent areas reported moderate shaking (MM V).

[18] As of 11 May, at least eight light aftershocks were reported near the initial quake epicentres;[19] the strongest registered a magnitude of 4.1 (ML) and occurred at 22:37 local time (20:37 UTC).

[21] A field hospital was set up by the Military Emergencies Unit in the Plaza del Ayuntamiento where those injured were attended to by members of Protección Civil and the Red Cross.

The great damage produced by this moderate magnitude earthquake may be explained by the southwestward directivity of a shallow rupture that induced high acceleration values in Lorca village.

A team led by Pablo Gonzalez of the University of Western Ontario in Canada reported in the journal Nature Geoscience in October 2012 that the pattern of earth movement was consistent with changes in stresses caused by the removal of water from underground reservoirs.