3.9 Magnitude earthquake shakes St Kitts and Nevis, Antigua and Montserrat

A strong 3.9 magnitude earthquake struck parts of Eastern Caribbean affecting countries including St Kitts and Nevis, Antigua and Barbuda, and Montserrat. The earthquake struck at 9:00 in the morning, on May 25th, Saturday, creating an alarm among residents across the region.  

As per the report shared by the University of West Indies Seismic Research Centre, the earthquake struck at a depth of 10 km, due to which the tremors were strongly felt by the residents. The data shared by them revealed the exact location of the earthquake as 134 km away from St Kitts and Nevis, 120 km away from Montserrat and 69 km away from Antigua and Barbuda.  

The report from the UWI Seismic Research Centre also outlined that this is a preliminary report, which has been calculated by their computer algorithms, and may change upon evaluation by the SRC analysts. The three islands notably experienced a similar magnitude earthquake almost 10 days back, making them one of the most prone regions to earthquakes across the Caribbean.  

Although these islands experienced an intense earthquake, other islands across the Caribbean including Dominica, Martinique, Trinidad and Tobago and Saint Lucia are relatively more prone to earthquakes with Dominica experiencing two earthquakes in just two days on 20th and 21st May and were the nearest island to the epicentre with just 21 and 51 km away.  

Apart from this, Trinidad and Tobago is another country in the region which faces intense and comparatively more earthquakes than any other country across the Caribbean. It was recently struck by two consecutive earthquakes on May 12th with a magnitude of 5.5 and 3.8, which immediately created havoc among locals.  

The Caribbean region is notably prone to such earthquakes and natural disasters due to its geographical location. The increase in the number of earthquakes combined with the upcoming hurricane season, often impacts these small island developing states and causes damages worth millions. The earthquakes also create favourable conditions for tsunamis to form near coasts which further intensifies the threat on these islands.