This is a list of earthquakes in the Dominican Republic
Date | Location | Mag. | MMI | Deaths | Injuries | Damage / notes | Ref | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2021-11-22 | Puerto Plata | 4.5 Mw | V | Schools damaged | [1] [2] | |||||
2019-02-04 | La Altagracia | 5.3 Mw | V | Some buildings damaged | [3] [4] | |||||
2015-01-14 | Barahona | 3.0 Mw | 2 | Deaths due to mine collapse/Aftershock | [5] | |||||
2015-01-13 | Barahona | 4.5 Mw | IV | Schools damaged | [6] [5] | |||||
2003-10-16 | Puerto Plata | 4.8 Mw | V | Minor damage / Aftershock | [7] | |||||
2003-09-22 | Puerto Plata | 6.4 Mw | X | 3 | Dozens | Significant damage | ||||
1987-09-03 | Monte Cristi | 5.0 Mw | IV | Minor damage | [8] | |||||
1987-06-24 | San Pedro de Macoris | 5.2 Mw | IV | 5 | [9] | |||||
1984-06-24 | San Pedro de Macorís | 6.7 Mw | VII | 5 | ||||||
1971-06-11 | Santo Domingo | 6.5 Mw | V | 51 | Minimal damage | [10] | ||||
1953-05-31 | Hermanas Mirabal | 6.6 Mw | VI | Some houses damaged | [11] | |||||
1948-04-21 | Samaná | 6.9 Mw | VII | [12] | ||||||
1946-08-08 | Samaná | 7.0 Mw | VII | Buildings damaged | [13] | |||||
1946-08-04 | Samaná | 8.1 Ms | IX | 2,550 | Destructive tsunami | |||||
1943-07-29 | Mona Passage | 7.7 Mw | VII | Some damage | [14] | |||||
Note: The inclusion criteria for adding events are based on WikiProject Earthquakes' notability guideline that was developed for stand alone articles. The principles described also apply to lists. In summary, only damaging, injurious, or deadly events should be recorded. |
The geography of Puerto Rico consists of an archipelago located between the Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, east of Hispaniola, and west of the Virgin Islands and north of Venezuela. The main island of Puerto Rico is the smallest and most eastern of the Greater Antilles. With an area of 8,897 square kilometres (3,435 sq mi), it is the third largest island in the United States and the 82nd largest island in the world. Various smaller islands and cays, including Vieques, Culebra, Mona, Desecheo, and Caja de Muertos comprise the remainder of the archipelago with only Culebra and Vieques being inhabited year-round. Mona is uninhabited through large parts of the year except for employees of the Puerto Rico Department of Natural Resources.
Earthquakes are caused by movements within the Earth's crust and uppermost mantle. They range from events too weak to be detectable except by sensitive instrumentation, to sudden and violent events lasting many minutes which have caused some of the greatest disasters in human history. Below, earthquakes are listed by period, region or country, year, magnitude, cost, fatalities and number of scientific studies.
The 1946 Dominican Republic earthquake occurred on August 4 at 17:51 UTC near Samaná, Dominican Republic. The mainshock measured 7.8 on the moment magnitude scale and 8.1 on the surface wave magnitude scale. An aftershock occurred four days later on August 8 at 13:28 UTC with a moment magnitude of 7.0. A tsunami was generated by the initial earthquake and caused widespread devastation across Hispaniola. The tsunami was observed in much of the Caribbean and the northwestern Atlantic Ocean.
The 2003 Dominican Republic earthquake occurred on September 22 at 00:45:37 local time with a moment magnitude of 6.4 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme).
The 2010 Aguas Buenas earthquake, also referred to as the 2010 Christmas Eve earthquake, occurred on December 24 at 7:43 p.m. local time in Aguas Buenas, Puerto Rico. It measured 5.1 on the moment magnitude scale and had a maximum Mercalli intensity of VI (Strong). The event was the largest in Puerto Rico since May 16th of the same year, and the largest to impact the San Juan metropolitan area since 1975. The earthquake was felt throughout the island of Puerto Rico, the island municipalities of Vieques and Culebra, the American and British Virgin Islands, and even in the Dominican Republic across the Mona Passage.
The 2010 Moca earthquake, also referred to as the 2010 Puerto Rico earthquake, occurred on May 16 at 1:16 a.m. local time in Moca, Puerto Rico. The earthquake measured 5.8 on the moment magnitude scale and had a maximum Mercalli intensity of VI (Strong). This was the largest earthquake to strike Puerto Rico since the 1943 Puerto Rico earthquake which measured 7.7 on the Richter scale. This was also the first moderate to major earthquake in recorded history to originate on land in Puerto Rico, as earthquakes in the region usually have their epicenter in the ocean; another earthquake with an epicenter on land would occur later in December of the same year.