Rowley: Region 'lucky' after 7.6 weekend earthquake

The Prime Minister has deemed the region "lucky" that a 7.6 magnitude earthquake on February 8 did not have any major effects.

The earthquake was recorded shortly after 7 pm 32 kilometres (km) north of Honduras and 209 km south of the Cayman Islands at a depth of ten km.

In a post along with a Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) incident report on his Facebook page on February 9, Dr Rowley, a vulcanologist by profession who has a doctorate in geology, said the potential for significant seismic activity in the region was a natural hazard, because the Cayman Trench structural zone was an active margin of the Caribbean plate.

"We are lucky to have experienced such a big shake at shallow depth without it causing any damage or destruction."

However, he said there was the possibility of significant aftershocks, which were normal after events "of such large magnitude."

The CDEMA situation report said, based on preliminary earthquake parameters, hazardous tsunami waves were possible for coasts  within 1,000 kilometres of the earthquake’s epicentre, according to the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre.

That prompted tsunami threats and warnings across 20 nearby countries, including the Bahamas, Belize, Cayman Islands, Haiti, Jamaica, Turks and Caicos Islands and the Virgin Islands.

However, it said by 10 pm that night CDEMA-participating countries were given the all-clear from their respective authorities.