I Hate Dialysis Message Board
Introduction => The IHD Family - Our Members => Topic started by: okarol on November 29, 2007, 06:25:13 PM
-
Powerful earthquake hits Caribbean
By ELLSWORTH CARTER, Associated Press WriterThu Nov 29, 4:42 PM ET
A powerful earthquake rocked the eastern Caribbean Thursday, sending office workers and shoppers on several islands fleeing into the streets. Minor injuries were reported on the island of Martinique.
The 7.4 magnitude earthquake struck at 2 p.m. EST and was centered 26 miles southeast of Roseau, capital of Dominica, where the shaking lasted for about 20 seconds. The temblor was felt hundreds of miles away in Puerto Rico to the west, and Venezuela and Suriname to the south.
In the neighboring island of Martinique, a government official said police and firefighters were responding to hundreds of calls for help. He said some people sustained minor injuries, but no major casualties have been reported. The official declined to give his name in accordance with government policy.
The earthquake collapsed the roofs of a bank and a store in the capital of Martinique, Fort-de-France. Ambulances were called in.
"My house shook so hard I thought it was going to fall," said a caller to Radio Martinique who identified herself only as Fannie. "The door, the windows, everything shook."
The quake struck at a depth of 90 miles, according to the U.S. Geological Survey Web site.
"I wouldn't expect major damage because the quake has some depth," said Don Blakeman, a geophysicist at the National Earthquake Information Center in Golden, Colo.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii said the quake was too deep to generate a destructive tsunami.
In Trinidad, the shaking sent workers streaming out of office towers into the streets of the capital, Port-of-Spain.
Thousands more ran outside in St. Maarten. Flight's at Princess Juliana International Airport were briefly suspended. In Guyana, lawmakers evacuated the South American country's parliament building.
The earthquake did not disrupt production at Trinidad's state-owned oil refinery, Petrotrin, which produces 160,000 barrels of refined gasoline, diesel and oil daily for domestic use and export to countries including the United States.
"We have not had any reports about breakdowns from our exploration and production fields," spokesman Arnold Corneal said. "We are still doing checks."
In St. Lucia, Julian Dubois, deputy director of the national emergency management organization, said the quake caused some panic and broke water lines but did not appear to cause severe damage. In the capital, Castries, people spoke of buildings swaying but not toppling. A glass door of one company was shattered.
St. Lucia resident Annie Ellis said the quake was the strongest she has experienced. "In all my years, I have never felt any earthquake so powerful," said the 100-year-old Ellis. "And it lasted such a long time."
In Antigua, islanders said the shaking lasted about 30 seconds.
"I haven't felt one like that in a while," said Jessie Kentish, a resident of the capital, St. John's. "It was a long time."
The temblor triggered a series of false quake alarms in California, with computers picking up energy coming out of the Caribbean and erroneously treating it as local seismic activity. The fake quakes began registering nine minutes after the Caribbean quake, USGS scientists said.
In September, a similar incident occurred when a massive earthquake struck off the Mariana Islands in the Pacific Ocean and triggered six false reports of quakes in California.
-
WOW! I didn't know there were ever quakes like that in her area! I wonder if it triggered any tsunamis? I, too, hope she's OK. That is so scary.
-
I hope she is ok as well. :grouphug;
-
Hope you are safe and well.
Amanda
xxoo
-
I hope you are okay Bajanne! :cuddle;
-
Thinkin of you Bajanne :cuddle; :grouphug; :cuddle;
-
Forgive me not responding to this before. I am quite fine. It was a fairly widespread earthquake, but it was also very deep. I knew it had to be deep because my island Barbados is not really in the chain of islands - it is a little to the side, and the other islands are part of a volcanic chain, while Barbados is a coral island so any earthquake that affected Barbados would have to be very deep. And so it was. Over here in the north caribbean we felt it. I didn't feel the quake really - I heard something like a grumbling sound and I thought there was a plumbing problem in the apartment building where I was. But that was all for me. People in Barbados were absolutely traumatized since the last time there was any kind of tremor was in 1953! In the other islands they are more accustomed to minor tremors from time to time.
In 1974, I experienced an 8.6 earthquake when I was living in Antigua. Now that was something. Pure terror!
Earthquakes are very rare in the Caribbean, but I noticed that these last few years, record things are happening all over the world. How many times are we hearing - 'the worst in the last 100 years' 'the greatest on record' etc...?
If you are interested in keeping tabs on seismic reports, there is this website that gives updated statististics on earthquakes in the last 30 days (tegistering over 4.0). You will see ours recorded as Windward Islands on Nov 29. and it is the biggest in the last 30 days.
http://www.iris.edu/seismon/last30.html
Thanks for your loving concern, IHD family!
-
so glad you didn't experience any problems
-
Glad you weren't disrupted with the earthquake.
-
Here is a YouTube picture of some of the action:-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwTr6hejEN8&feature=related
Here is a pool experiencing the earthquake -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPySVL-c3Lg&feature=related
These were in Barbados, my home country. I think the tremor was too slight here in the British Virgin Islands for such coverage.
-
Here we are facing another of Mother Nature's challenges - We have Hurricane Omar due to make landfall here after midnight. Keep us in your caring thoughts and prayers.
-
Hunker down, Bajanne! I'm thinking about you!! We all are!
-
Prayer for protection. Let us know you are OK as soon as you can.
-
whoa! :o
-
Bajanne you and your family are in my loving thoughts and prayers. Keep in touch.
Love, Mimi
-
It's not supposed to hit where Bajanne lives but will hit the islands.
-
IKE's got a gang :banghead;
-
Hoping to hear from you soon that all is okay Bajanne. :flower;
-
Omar turned out to be a pussycat in this area. i went to bed just before midnight and heard absolutely nothing. Next morning bright sunshine. Some young people are even disappointed, but not me! That excitement I can do without!!!!
we did have some flooding, but that was about it.
-
prayers answered...good to hear you're okay...
-
thank God...Boxman
-
Glad you are all safe. I am ready for hurricane season to be over!