7.6 Earthquake shakes Costa Rica
(CNS): The US Geological Survey has confirmed that a powerful 7.6 magnitude earthquake rocked the north-western part of Costa Rica at around 8:40 this morning anda tsunami alert has been issued on the Pacific coast of most of Central and South America. The centre of the quake was about 50 miles south of Liberia and was at a depth of 12.4 miles. According to Reuters it rattled buildings and cut power in some parts of San Jose, the country’s capital. So far there have been no reports of any deaths or serious injuries as a result of the quake.
Power and communications were lost briefly throughout most of the country and there were reports that it could be felt as far away as Nicaragua and El Salvador.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday evening a 5.2-magnitude quake shook the waters north of the British Virgin Islands. The USG said the quake occurred around 65 miles north-northeast of Road Town, and 78 miles north-northeast of Charlotte Amalie in the United States Virgin Islands.
The region north of the British Virgin Islands seems to have been experiencing increased seismic activity in the last few weeks. Tuesday’s quake came a few hours after another 4.2-magnitude tremor in the same vicinity as well as a 4.0 magnitude on Tuesday morning.
Category: Science and Nature
OMG! I hope my Family is okay.
The error of the PTWC, located in Hawaii, of the tsunami warning yesterday, should answer to why and how this "mistake" happened. This should be answered not only to the people of the Cayman Islands, but to all countries in our region. How could they have made such an error?? Caribbean and Pacific are two completely different regions! False alarms (alarms which were issued because of a potential tsunami threat, but were not followed by an actual tsunami) are possile, but come on, mistaking a whole region! A tsunami "WARNING" means that a tsunami has been generated: Leave coastal areas. ( A very strong earthquake, volcanic action or underwater slide may cause a local tsunami: Go to high ground immediately!) Howerver, saying all this, it should be a warning to the government of the Cayman Islands that the people of these islands are not prepared for this type of emergency. Should a tsunami come this way, is there a plan in place for this? What high ground does Grand Cayman and Little Cayman have? Will there be enough time to get us all to the Brac and onto the bluff?
Think about it!
head for Mount trashmore
I suggest you subscribe to this address for regular updates from NOAA National Weather Services: http://ptwc.weather.gov/ptwc/index.php.
I received my email notification thru this website and also received notification on cancellation within seconds of the warning thru this same website.
That's where Mac landed!!!
It does not need to be a tusnami to cause a lot of suffering on islands flat as ours .any decent size wave can.look at what norwesters do sometime.so don’t get too technical about depth.
Earthquakes on the Caribbean/Atlantic coast of Central America are very rear, when i heard the announcement on Rooster this morning about the Caribbean tsumani warning i knew right away that this was most likely an error,now the Pacific side of Central America is a different story,the plate in that area is connected to the plates of western South America,Mexico and the west coast of the United States,and as we all know this area is a major hotbed for earthquakes,while we all hope the best for Costa Rica lets remember that Cayman sits on the North American plate and a few miles away from the Caribbean plate,a major quake can happen at anytime, preparation and drills should be held thru out the islands at least twice per year as this can be crucial in saving lives.
Anon 1453 thanks for scaring the people.
Cayman sits on the edge of the north american plate which is rubbing against the caribbean plate. The direction of motion of the two plates does not lend itself to the production of major earthquakes. This can change but it takes a lot of years so no major change expected for a while.
By the way I noticed someone talking about a northwester. Get it straight a northwester is nothing in comparison to a tsuenami. The relative deep waters especially to the east is the major reason why it is not a major threat. If you were to get a tsuenami it would more than likely come from the direction of the earthquake which would be the cayman trench.
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/map/ Check this link to real time earthquakes.
They are happening all around us. Today alone, there have been 6 so far in the Caribbean Region, Mexico, Virgin Islands and Costa Rica of varying magnitudes.
And – its 9.30am on 6th Sept and we have already had 9 in the caribbean / central america region
God must be angry.
Director of Hazard Management states:-
"THE TSUNAMI WATCH FOR THE CARIBBEAN IS CANCELLED BECAUSE IT WAS MEANT FOR THE PACIFIC AND WAS INADVERTANTLY SENT TO THE CARIBBEAN BY MISTAKE. WE APOLOGIZE FOR ANY INCONVENIENCE THIS MAY HAVE CAUSED."
McClearly why tell us now? Even if the it was a mistake, why hasn't the public promptly been notified of when the tsunami watch came into effect???
Maybe because the Cayman Islands CAN NOT have tsunami's! For a tsunami to build up to a substantial size wave it needsa lot of shallow water to allow the front of the wave to slow down and the back of the wave to catch up, essentially causing it to jack up into a tsunami. We are blessed with a drop off to very deep water less than half a mile off shore in most places.
Hurricanes, earth quakes and politicians are the only threats to these islands and I'm not sure which is worse.
We have a trench on the deep side but the other side of these islands is shallow.
LOL! 6,000ft is really shallow yeah!
I think its the POLITICIANS! (LOL)
I am a Civil Servant. I understand McCleary Frederick, the Director of Hazard Management Cayman Islands issued a message to us at 11:38 a.m. declaring that the tsunami watch is cancelled. Note: This is the only message we received from Hazard Management. A message to Mr Frederick: Is there a way of you warning residents at the time a watch is made or a regional earthquake occurs? No offense, but your message to us is a message which I believe could have been too late.
WHY HAVE HMCI FAILED TO ISSUE A WATCH TO US ON TIME FOR THESE ISLANDS?!!!
Good question. Someone got this news from Rooster. Some folk was forewarned by Lime. I have a Digicel phone and it wasn't texted. Some coworker told me that's how I found out. Its funny, but it is a serious matter. Information arriving to us too late. Maybe government need to reassess the sources of their information. I don't think it is right to point fingers at the director, but we should learn from what is holding back communication. Perhaps he received the message late. Just a thought
That's another reason you should switch to Lime then cuz Digi might be the bigger "betta' network but Lime is much faster at getting and spreading news/gossip.
Glad to see that in DIGISMELS adverts for Cayman they have corrected "Betta" to BETTER.
Because there wasn't really a watch?
Your a civil servant and you still expect some service for your money out of a government entity? Really?
Further proof that HMCI continues to be a waste of time. What do they do anyway if they can't interpret a mistake from NOAA in the USA, and immediately send it out tot the public as an error.
Seems quite alarge agency with far too many employees who add no value or bring in any revenue to government.
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