Seismic Centre: Quake activity elevated

THE two earthquakes felt on Monday night were part of “an elevated level of seismicity” being felt both regionally and globally, said Dr Joan Latchman, head of the Seismic Research Centre (SRC), at the University of the West Indies (UWI), St Augustine.

“What we are seeing in the Gulf of Paria this year is somewhat elevated above what we would normally see,” she commented.

She said the two quakes occurred respectively at 11.33 pm and 11.37 pm in the Gulf of Paria, followed by aftershocks. The first and main quake was 5.1 magnitude at a depth of ten kilometres.

Latchman said some people said they had felt the quakes, among some 100 people commenting on the SRC’s Facebook page.

While there was no direct link between these quakes and the huge 6.9 quake of August 21, she said, “It may be part of the system having been disturbed, or getting ready to be disturbed.”

However, she added that the two quakes are not necessarily any precursor to anything to come.

But Latchman also noted that a huge earthquake like that in TT in 1776 could still occur any time.