No tsunami warnings or watches have been issued for the British Virgin Islands following a pre-dawn earthquake that rattled several Caribbean islands.
Puerto Rico Seismic Network, the 5:27 A.M. earthquake measuring 6.5M on the
Richter Scale, occurred at a depth of 16.9 kilometres, at a distance of 884.5
kilometres Southeast of San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Journal stated that “the quake was felt across the region, with weak shaking
felt as far north as Philipsburg, St. Maarten and light to moderate shaking
from Martinique all the way down to Grenada. The most reports of shaking were
felt in Martinique, which was about 128 kilometres directly west of the quake’s
epicentre, along with Barbados.”
The earthquake was also felt in St Lucia,
Dominica, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Guadeloupe, Trinidad and even
Venezuela.
Earlier this month, a report reprinted by
the website www.caribbean360.com revealed that “the Caribbean could be at risk
from a mega-tsunami that scientists warn could devastate coastlines from
Florida to Brazil following a volcanic eruption in the Canary Islands. The
monster wave generated by part of a mountain collapsing into the sea would be
the biggest ever recorded and would be an unstoppable force, travelling at
speeds of up to 500mph.”
While the first landfall from this event is
predicted to be the West Saharan coast of Morocco, “the greatest destruction
was nevertheless expected in the built-up coastal areas of the Caribbean,
Florida and Brazil, according to a new forecast by Dr. Simon Day of the
Benfield Greig Hazard Research Centre at University College London. The tsunami
could reach heights of 130ft to 164ft throughout the region and travel several
miles inland, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake.”
Another report disseminated by
www.caribbean360.com in January this year noted that “potentially deadly
tsunamis threaten Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and the rest of the Caribbean
given the region’s location along the junction of several major and minor
tectonic plates.”
