Roatan Earthquake

Published 3rd June, 9:46am

At 3.35 am local time on Thursday May 28, 2009 an earthquake measuring 7.1 on the Richter scale occurred north of the Bay Islands of Honduras, at coordinates 16.7 North and 86.3 West.

A tsunami watch was issued for Belize, Honduras and Guatemala. At no point was a tsunami watch or warning issued for the Cayman Islands, as the possibility of a tsunami was confined to areas less than 100 kilometers away from the epicenter of the earthquake.

Plans are in place for the establishment of a Caribbean–wide tsunami warning system and the Cayman Islands expect to play a part in that effort. The Caribbean tsunami warning system should be operational by 2010 / 2011. A network of seismographs is being established for the Caribbean region and this is part of a global project being run by UNESCO’s International Oceanographic Commission.

The Cayman Islands Government has commissioned a seismic monitoring network, consisting of 4 state of the art seismograph stations. Two seismographs will be located in Grand Cayman, one in Little Cayman and another on the Island of Cayman Brac. One of these seismographs in Frank Sound is already fully functional and the earthquake off Honduras was detected locally and the information relayed through to HMCI as expected.

Earthquakes do occur from time to time in the vicinity of the Cayman Islands as we are located near to the boundary of the North American plate, with the Caribbean plate sliding past to the south. The likelihood of a large catastrophic earthquake in the Cayman Islands is considered a very remote possibility; however the threat does exist nevertheless. In December 2004 a 6.8 magnitude earthquake occurred 20 miles to the south of Grand Cayman. Since the formation of HMCI in 2006 the agency has embarked on a proactive public education campaign to raise awareness of the earthquake threat in the Cayman Islands. Earthquake drills have been conducted involving both private and public sector entities and the program has also been instituted in Government schools.

For further information:

Contact Simon Boxall

Public Awareness and Information Officer

Hazard Management Cayman Islands

Telephone: 916-3766

Email: Simon.Boxall@gov.ky;

For further information contact: Simon Boxall