President Luis Abinader announced during the 10 February 2025 press conference that the government would soon be ready to have an emergency alert system that will reach all who have a Dominican-issued cell phone. Even the very poor have access to cell phones in the Dominican Republic.
The President made the announcement on Saturday, 8 February, hundreds of thousands learned of a tsunami alert that the Center for Emergency Operations issued for an hour, warning those near the sea to evacuate and stay out of the water. The alert was issued after a 7.6 magnitude earthquake in the Caribbean Sea at 6:30pm midway between the north coast of Honduras and the Cayman Islands.
The earthquake did not cause damages and the tsunami alert was removed in about an hour’s time.
Tsunamis in the Caribbean are rare, but there are historic records of ocurrences in the Dominican Republic in 1842 and 1946 on the north coast. Osiris de León, a member of the Academy of Sciences of the Dominican Republic, told the Hoy newspaper that the north coast, from Manzanillo to Samana, is at risk. “This is because Manzanillo was struck by a tsunami on 7 May 1842, and Matanzas was impacted on 4 August 1946. In fact, the 1946 Matanzas earthquake is the most powerful earthquake to have hit the Caribbean region, with a magnitude of 8.1,” he said.
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CDN Conditions for a tsunami to happen
11 February 2025