Posted as a reminder that the shaking from an earthquake is not the only threat our island nation faces when it comes to these events. Nothing to worry about from this earthquake but this may not always be the case. Of particular concern is the major fault that runs east to west in the ocean off the north coast of the island - the North Hispaniola Fault and portions of the Puerto Rico Trench. Both of these areas of active seismic activity are thrust zones that are more than capable of producing a large tsunami under the right conditions. Fortunately this quake was nowhere near us. These large destructive waves can travel large distances quite quickly. As far as I know the Dominican Republic has no tsunami early warning system in place to notify citizens of inbound threats.
PRELIMINARY EARTHQUAKE PARAMETERS
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* MAGNITUDE 6.6
* ORIGIN TIME 0651 UTC SEP 6 2020
* COORDINATES 7.5 NORTH 37.1 WEST
* DEPTH 10 KM / 6 MILES
* LOCATION CENTRAL MID-ATLANTIC RIDGE
EVALUATION
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* AN EARTHQUAKE WITH A PRELIMINARY MAGNITUDE OF 6.6 OCCURRED
NEAR THE CENTRAL MID-ATLANTIC RIDGE AT 0651 UTC ON SUNDAY
SEPTEMBER 6 2020.
* BASED ON ALL AVAILABLE DATA... THERE IS NO TSUNAMI THREAT TO
CARIBBEAN COASTS FROM THIS EARTHQUAKE.
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"A dozen major earthquakes of magnitude 7.0 or greater have occurred in the Caribbean near Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the island of Hispaniola, shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic, in the past 500 years, and several have generated tsunamis. The most recent major earthquake, a magnitude 8.1 in 1946, resulted in a tsunami that killed a reported 1,600 people."
