BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC) – An earthquake with a magnitude of 5.2 rocked several Caribbean islands on Wednesday as regional countries were being urged to continue monitoring the situation in Puerto Rico where two strong earthquakes have been blamed for the death of one man and damage to several buildings in that country.

The Trinidad-based Seismic Research centre (SRC) of the University of the West Indies, said that the quake occurred at 10.01 (local time) and was located Latitude: 15.18N; Longitude: 61.22W and at a depth of 123 kilometres (km).

The SRC said that the quake was felt 23 km south east of Roseau in Dominica, as well as 66 km north, north west of Fort-de-France, the capital of the French island of Martinique and 124 km south south east of Point-à-Pitre, the capital of Guadeloupe.

The SRC said there were no immediate reports of injuries or damage and the Barbados-based Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) Wednesday joined SRC in urging Caribbean countries to monitor the situation in Puerto Rico.

CDEMA said it was advising member states “to continue to monitor the situation in Puerto Rico and to be guided by the alerts received from their respective NTWCs and by the established protocols outlined in their respective tsunami and coastal hazard plans”.

It said that together with the Regional Response Mechanism Partners, they will continue to monitor the situation and provide updates if the situation warrants.

On Tuesday, SRC said that the recent earthquakes in Puerto Rico should serve as a reminder to the Caribbean “that our region is seismically active and we always need to be prepared”.

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