Sept. 14, 2007 – Some V.I. residents woke up at 2:03 a.m. Friday to feel their house shaking when a 4.6-magnitude earthquake hit. It did not cause any damage.
According to the Puerto Rico Seismic Network's website, the earthquake was centered at 18.38 degrees north latitude and 64.45 degrees west longitude. This put it about five miles south of Virgin Gorda on the V.I. Platform.
The earthquake was located about 56 miles under the sea floor.
The Seismic Network called it a light earthquake.
A press release sent Thursday by Steve Parris, acting director of the V.I. Territorial Emergency Management Agency in response to the spate of earthquakes and tsunami threats in Indonesia, was eerily timed.
"It's not a matter of being psychic, but we are in a seismic reactive area," Parris said Friday.
He said that while the Virgin Islands is a beautiful paradise, it comes with some "cautions." He said that the territory is in a Seismic 4 zone, the same as earthquake-prone California.
Parris said this means that residents need to prepare. They need to know where they'll go if an earthquake hits and how they'll get to higher ground if a tsunami follows.
He said he followed his own advice Friday when he heard the roar that preceded the shake.
"I got under an archway," he said.
He said at 2:20 a.m. the phone rang with the Seismic Network calling to let him know that there was no tsunami danger.
Parris said this is routine, and if they don't get him, they call 911.
He pointed out that the territory did get a tsunami in November of 1867, which came right on the heels of an earthquake. It was a bad month for residents, who in a 10-day period were hit with a hurricane, an earthquake and a tsunami.
So far in September, the region had 76 earthquakes. A total of 1,666 occurred so far in 2007. Most were not felt.
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