It’s now 234pm Trinidad time, and I’m sitting in Panini Café wolfing down a roast beef wrap. Around 224pm, as I was on my way here, sitting in traffic (and, incidentally, checking e-mail), the car suddenly started shaking. Knowing my car, it could well have been something going on under the hood, so I switched off the engine to make sure. The vibration continued. I looked around to see if other drivers around me were reacting, but the windows of the shiny black BMW next to me were so heavily tinted I couldn’t tell. Called Nikipedia, who confirmed it was indeed an aftershock, and that one of the multi-story government offices — a fairly new buidling — not far from where I am right now, had to be evacuated because a crack had appeared in the structure.
Interestingly, one of the e-mails I was reading when the aftershock occured was a French Embassy communiqué about the earthquake from a mailing list for French nationals and francophiles that — even though I’m neither — I happen to be subscribed to. They seemed to be taking this morning’s tremor very seriously and quoted this report from the Seismic Research Unit:
"On Friday morning 29th September at 9:08 a.m. local time, an earthquake occurred less than 5km off the north coast of Trinidad. The preliminary location for the event is 10.83°N 61.41°W. This event was reported as widely felt throughout Trinidad, Tobago, Venezuela and St. Vincent. Thus far there have been no reports of injuries and several reports of minor damage - cracks in walls.
With earthquakes of this magnitude scientists will expect aftershocks - other earthquakes - of similar or smaller magnitude. Unfortunately, earthquakes cannot be predicted and we cannot say when these aftershocks may occur. Please note that scientists from the Seismic Research Unit have not issued a warning that a larger earthquake will occur later on today.
The USGS has reported that this morning's earthquake was of magnitude 6.0 while our records show a preliminary magnitude of 5.5. Our instruments are closer to the epicentre and we also have a better distribution of instruments near the source of the earthquake so we are confident that our magnitude of 5.5 is accurate.
The report in the Trinidad Express (which includes a map, in case you’re interested) says “there was no major damage or injury,” but the communiqué advises that people confirm that “the structure of buildings has not been weakened by this morning’s tremor, especially as buildings in Trinidad do not generally conform to seismic standards.” Then they go on to reproduce the in-case-of-an-earthquake guidelines from the Embassy’s security manual.
Maybe it’s time I embraced francophilia.
(Image from the Trinidad Express.)
Being a stickler for accuracy I would really like to know the actual magnitute of the quakes.I somehow doubt that the Venezuelan seismologists who say 6.1 and the USGS which says 6.0 are both inaccurate compared to our on-the-ball UWI scientists. Having been through a number of quakes in my time I honestly feel the aftershock was a definite 5.5 but the one this morning was a 6.