Puerto Rico: 6.5-Magnitude Earthquake Shakes Northern Coast

Above: a graphic of the quake (United States Geological Survey)

By the Caribbean Journal staff

The Caribbean’s strongest earthquake in several years caused shaking in Puerto Rico and much of the northern Caribbean on Sunday evening, according to the United States Geological Survey.

The 6.5-magnitude quake, which occurred at just after midnight off the northern coast of Puerto Rico, reportedly caused some small damage in certain areas.

The quake’s epicentre was about 56 kilometres north of Hatillo, and about 96 kilometres northwest of San Juan.

It caused light to moderate shaking across Puerto Rico, and was felt as far west as the western Dominican Republic and as far east as the British Virgin Islands and Philipsburg, St Maarten.

People across the island of Puerto Rico reported swaying of furniture and even buildings, with more than 60 aftershocks reported in the US territory, according to the

There were not any reports of injuries, however.

The Puerto Rico Seismic Network at the University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez reported three more independent earthquakes following the one at midnight, each of more than 3.59 magnitude on the Richter scale.

All were located in the 19-degrees fault zone north of the island.

The quake came just three days after a rare earthquake rattled the north of Cuba and the Florida Keys.

It also occurred on the four-year anniversary of the devastating earthquake in Haiti which, as a point of reference, had a magnitude of 7.0 on the Richter scale.

Puerto Rico is in one of the region’s most seismically active areas.