Should people in the Dominican Republic be afraid of the earthquake?

Well its like living in CA, you know theirs 'faults" but what can you do. same here

if you are afraid if earth quakes can happen in DR. So are you right.
It can happen in DR, also..

All kind of nature disaster can happen everywhere in world.
Earth quake, Hurricanes,Tornado, extreme coldness or heat, Tsunami..etc..

Personally have I survived three big hurricanes in Cuba the last years.

To live or not live.. you never now when or if the "****" will happen to you.
Can happen in your country , as it can happen in DR.:cheeky:

any natural disaster is scary. i've been through a few myself. what i want to know is what kind of help the DR is sending to Haiti.....

About 6 years ago we had a 6.3 earthquake. The strong tremor yesterday was nothing compared to what we experienced then. Instead of a swaying llike yesterday, there was a viiolent shaking, something, I imagine, like what the people in Haiti felt yesterday. But even worse was the frightening noise. It sounded to me like there was a huge airplane racing its engines on the roof. The fact this happened in the middle of the night made it all even worse.

At the time, we were told that this was not the major earthquake that the Dominican Republic is due to have and that is about 800 years overdue. I had that in my mind for a long time after the earthquake, as did many other people here. I don't worry about that now like I did then, but it is still in my mind. No point in being afraid, since there is not much you can do except move to another location to avoid the possibility of being here when the big one comes, but you also can't think that you are safe from a major earthquake because you live in the Dominican Republic.

Regarding the previous quake, there was not the death and destruction that there is in Haiti because most buildings are better constructed and because homes with palm frond roofs don't kill anybody when the roof collapses, but there was damage. Most noteworthy in Sosua, where I live, was the change in the block where the Texaco station is. Before the earthquake, Texaco had its pumps at the Cabarete end of the block and a big 3 story building was at the other end. The 3-story building was so badly damaged that it had to be torn down. Also, the Sosua Bay Hotel cracked open and was closed for repairs to reinforce the building and put it back in shape.

There was a very good report about Earthquakes here in Hispaniola about the time of the 2003 earthquake in Puerto Plata.

Its tittle was :
Enjambre sismico en la Republica Dominicana, 22 de Setiembre, 2003 published on
25th September by Sergio Mora

I cant find it on the web at the moment but it looked at sequences of earthquakes over the last three centuries or so and there seems to be a fifty year cycle - the last major sequence was in Samana from 1946 to 1953.
Its worth reading if you can find it.

Olly

If anyone here can post or share their experiences with past earthquakes in DR...I happened to look at historical earthquakes in the carribean and noticed back in 1946 there was an 8.0 that hit Samana. I wonder what kind of damage was felt throughout DR then?

The Septentrional Fault is the one that runs through the DR and the reason why a major earthquake is overdue for the DR. This and the Haitian fault were analyzed during the Penrose Conference, held in Puerto Plata in 1999. This says that the north coast of the DR is vulnerable -- Santiago, Puerto Plata, Nagua, San Francisco de Macoris. Construction there should take very much into account possibility of a major earthquake.

Penrose

There are fault lines right along Haiti, if I'm not mistaken, so yes, the DR is at risk for earthquakes.

The Septentrional fault in under the Cibao. Here's a quote from the 2003 report cited abov e Slip rate and earthquake recurrence along the central Septentrional fault, North American–Caribbean plate boundary, Dominican Republic

M.A.R. said:

There are fault lines right along Haiti, if I'm not mistaken, so yes, the DR is at risk for earthquakes.

Click to expand...

The DR is not at risk because there are fault lines near Haiti, it is because there are fault lines running through the DR. Also there are under sea fault lines close to the North Coast.

Ken is absolutely correct. They are convergence faults between the North American Plate and the Caribbean Plate, which creates massive pressure, built up for many years.

I'm supposed to go to Punta Cana next Thursday, January 21.

I understand that the earthquake in Haiti is along a different fault line, however, should I be nervous that such a massive earthquake may cause others along nearby faultlines?

Should I delay my trip?

catcherintherye said:

Ken is absolutely correct. They are convergence faults between the North American Plate and the Caribbean Plate, which creates massive pressure, built up for many years.

Click to expand...

Very scary thought. Very true as well. I worked with a guy for a while who had studied seismology here in the late 80s when he was with U of Chicago.

Something about the North Coast prone mostly to land quakes, while Santo Domingo and co. are more prone to Tsunami activity (or do I have that reversed?).

PSUfella said:

I'm supposed to go to Punta Cana next Thursday, January 21.

I understand that the earthquake in Haiti is along a different fault line, however, should I be nervous that such a massive earthquake may cause others along nearby faultlines?

Should I delay my trip?

Click to expand...

No reason to delay your trip. The excitement is over for now.

Interesting article:

Experts warned of Haiti earthquake risk - CNN.com

There are few buildings that can withstand the type of earthquake that happened in Haiti. How can you then plan for something like this? There isn't a whole lot one can do.

Chip said:

There are few buildings that can withstand the type of earthquake that happened in Haiti. How can you then plan for something like this? There isn't a whole lot one can do.

Click to expand...

Chip, the article above discusses the island's topology as relates to the major fault lines. Not about attempting to prepare for something.

However, I beg to differ with you. The US puts severe code reqs out on buildings, homes etc. for new home starts.

On the other hand, for the poor masses, there is very little they can do in terms of structurally altering domicile, esp. when the walls are based in mud, or other Earthen-type material.

Like it or not, if you live in the DR you must accept the fact there will be earthquakes and that the next one may be strong enough to cause damage.

As you can see from the attached list published by the US Geodetic Survey, the agency tasked with monitoring earthquake activity, there are frequent earthquakes in the DR. But most are not strong enough to get us alarmed. But the potential for a major earthquake is there. Open the link and click on the search button to get the very long list.


Search earthquake.usgs.gov

MyBocaChica said:

Chip, the article above discusses the island's topology as relates to the major fault lines. Not about attempting to prepare for something.

However, I beg to differ with you. The US puts severe code reqs out on buildings, homes etc. for new home starts.

On the other hand, for the poor masses, there is very little they can do in terms of structurally altering domicile, esp. when the walls are based in mud, or other Earthen-type material.

Click to expand...

I wasn't referencing your article, but the OP's original statement.

As far as US requirements for buildings, I am a registered engineer in Florida and am aware of them. I also know that Dominicans generally copy our codes or even exceed them (like my concrete reinforced home in Santiago) yet even that did not prevent a building designed by one of the country's better engineering firm from collapsing yesterday.

Mueren dos ingenieros RD y arzobispo Puerto Pr?ncipe - ElNacional.com.do