Experts at the Dominican Association for Mitigation of Disasters had been expecting a 7.8 earthquake, prompting the question now of whether yesterday’s 6.5 quake was the one waited for, or if another one could be on its way. Following the initial and largest tremor on Monday at 12:45am, there were aftershocks of 5.1 (1:30am), 4.4 (6:58am), and 4.7 (8:39am).
El Caribe newspaper interviewed California geologist Jeff Bachhuber, who believes the 6.5 earthquake was of moderate intensity and that the region may still receive greater ones of magnitudes of 7 or 8.
Carol Prentice, professor of geology at Humbolt State in California, who said: “No way is the recent earthquake the biggest possible for the DR. It was a moderate one and we know that some day a greater one could happen.”
Chronology of Dominican earthquakes:
Nagua (northeast) – 4 August 1946 – 8.1 magnitude
Santo Domingo (south) – 4 December 1961 – 6.6 magnitude
Azua (southwest) – 11 June 1971 – 6.0 magnitude
Salinas/San Cristobal (southwest) – March 1993 – 5.2 magnitude
Cibao. (central/north) – April 1993 – 5.7 magnitude
San Francisco de Macoris – June 1993 – 5.1 magnitude
Puerto Plata – September 2003 – 6.8 magnitude
El Caribe newspaper reports that history reveals that there were very destructive earthquakes before 1946 taking place in 1897, 1842, 1751, 1761, 1673, 1665, and 1562.
For those who want to get the technical explanation on the most vulnerable areas of the island, a PDF document produced by an international conference that studied the geological phenomenon affecting the Dominican Republic is available to download. See http://www.ig.utexas.edu/research/projects/caribbean/publications/penrose/penrose_fg.htm