5.7 magnitude earthquake jolts Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico
Key Points(5)
- A 5.7 magnitude earthquake struck off the southeast coast of the Dominican Republic early Tuesday, waking residents across the Caribbean nation and in neighboring Puerto Rico.
- According to the U.S.
- Geological Survey, the quake occurred 24 miles (38 kilometers) southeast of Boca de Yuma at a depth of 104 miles (168 kilometers).
- No damage has been reported.
- The Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico lie in a zone of high seismic activity where the North American Plate meets the northeast corner of the Caribbean Plate.
A 5.7 magnitude earthquake struck off the southeast coast of the Dominican Republic early Tuesday, waking residents across the Caribbean nation and in neighboring Puerto Rico.
According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the quake occurred 24 miles (38 kilometers) southeast of Boca de Yuma at a depth of 104 miles (168 kilometers). No damage has been reported.
The Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico lie in a zone of high seismic activity where the North American Plate meets the northeast corner of the Caribbean Plate.
Meanwhile, late Monday, a separate 4.0 magnitude earthquake struck near Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, at a shallow depth of three miles (five kilometers), the country’s civil protection agency reported. The tremor was widely felt in the capital and surrounding areas, but officials said there were no immediate reports of damage.
Haiti, which shares the island of Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic, also sits on the boundary between the North American and Caribbean plates. The country remains vulnerable to seismic events, including a devastating 7.2 magnitude quake in August 2021 that killed hundreds, and the catastrophic 7.0 earthquake in January 2010 that claimed hundreds of thousands of lives.
