Caribbean Plate remains active, Cayman Islands latest victim

[HURAKAN]

Cayman Islands shaken by strongest earthquake since 1900

A strong earthquake struck the Cayman Islands on Tuesday -- the strongest since 1900 -- rattling windows and sending residents fleeing into the streets. No serious damage or injuries were reported.

The epicenter of the magnitude 6.7 earthquake was 20 miles south-southeast of Georgetown, said Kathleen Gohn, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Geological Survey based in Golden, Colo.

The initial quake lasted about 10 seconds and small shock waves were felt for more than 30 minutes, residents said.

"I got out of my house as fast as I could. I thought a plane was coming at us," said Maxine Drake from Halifax, Nova Scotia, who lives part time in Grand Cayman.

It was the strongest tremor to hit the Cayman Islands since 1900, Gohn said. It also was one of several to strike the region in the last month.

Gohn said the tremors were unrelated but activity in the Caribbean has been high.

A tremor with a magnitude of 5.7 jolted the British Virgin Islands, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico on Saturday. No injuries were reported and there was little damage.

Another earthquake with a magnitude of 5.4, however, caused at least 90 aftershocks on Dec. 3 in Trinidad, leaving at least one woman dead and damaging several buildings and houses.

Last month, a magnitude 6.3 earthquake on the Caribbean island of Dominica caused an estimated $20 million in damages.

The Cayman Islands has been plagued with disaster this year, recently estimating hurricane damage caused by Hurricane Ivan at more than $3 billion.

The storm tore through the wealthy British territory in September, destroying 70 percent of buildings and damaging many hotels. Many residents were forced to move to Grand Cayman's sister islands -- Little Cayman and Cayman Brac -- which received little damage.

[HurricaneBill]

I guess it depends on where the epicenter is located, in regards to how serious the damage will be.

In 1993, didn't Guam get hit by an 8.1 magnitude earthquake, yet suffer low amounts of damage?

3 earthquakes I'll never forget watching coverage on:

1. San Francisco 1989
2. Northbridge, California 1994
3. Kobe, Japan 1995 (unbelievable)

[Aslkahuna]

Yes Guam did get hit but it was a deep subduction zone event so the surface motion was not as great as it would have been for a shallower shock.

Steve

[AussieMark]

I guess it depends on where the epicenter is located, in regards to how serious the damage will be.

In 1993, didn't Guam get hit by an 8.1 magnitude earthquake, yet suffer low amounts of damage?

3 earthquakes I'll never forget watching coverage on:

1. San Francisco 1989
2. Northbridge, California 1994
3. Kobe, Japan 1995 (unbelievable)

Who can forget 1985.

A 8.1 earthquake struck off the coast off Mexico but Mexico City was absolutely devastated but was not the epicenter. It was worst hit than areas closer to the epicenter

[HurricaneBill]

I was only about 4 years old in 1985.

[AussieMark]

I was only about 4 years old in 1985.

I have read a lot oand seen documentaries from it.

Ones I have seen on TV are

Los Angeles (1994)
kobe (1995)
1999 (Turkey)
1999 (Taiwan)
2002(?) (India)
2003 (Iran)

[Aslkahuna]

The Kobe Earthquake, which occurred a year to the day after Northridge, was Nature's comeuppance for Japan. Many over there had insisted that the damage seen in the Loma Prieta and Northridge quakes couldn't happen in Japan because of their earthquake resistant construction practices. However, they forgot about the many older buildings and infrastructures along with narrow streets that did not meet newer codes and thus they were stunned by the results of the Kobe shock which came out far worse than either of the two CA shocks even though all three were in the same range of magnitudes (6.9 for Loma Prieta and 6.7 for Northridge and Kobe).

Steve

[AussieMark]

that Kobe earthquake caused damage in the order of $100 Billion.

I read a few years ago if the Tokyo earthquake of 1923 had the same affects today the damage would would be around $1 Trillion.

Los Angeles and San Francisco were kinda lucky in 1994 and 1989.

Imagine if those quakes were centered in the downtown area.

[HURAKAN]

Magnitude 6.8 CAYMAN ISLANDS REGION
Tuesday, December 14, 2004 at 23:20:14 UTC
Preliminary Earthquake Report
U.S. Geological Survey, National Earthquake Information Center
World Data Center for Seismology, Denver
The location of the earthquake and the character of elastic-waves radiated from the earthquake source are consistent with the shock occurring as left-lateral strike-slip faulting on the east-northeast trending boundary between the North American plate and the Caribbean plate. The Caribbean plate moves eastward with respect to the North American plate at a velocity of about 20 mm/year. At this longitude, the broader plate boundary consists of two parallel branches separated by approximately 125 km. The earthquake occurred on the northern of the branches, which is situated about 30 km south of Grand Cayman and extends eastward offshore of the south coast of Cuba and through northern Hispaniola.

[wthrmilagro]

I guess it depends on where the epicenter is located, in regards to how serious the damage will be.

In 1993, didn't Guam get hit by an 8.1 magnitude earthquake, yet suffer low amounts of damage?

3 earthquakes I'll never forget watching coverage on:

1. San Francisco 1989
2. Northbridge, California 1994
3. Kobe, Japan 1995 (unbelievable)

I was in Cali for both the SF and Northridge one.