Minor shaking was felt in the Barbados capital, Bridgetown on Monday after an undersea earthquakes struck to the northeast of the small Caribbean island nation.
It was the second earthquake to hit the region in as many days.
The quake occurred at 10:43 AM local time and was centred 99 km (61 miles) NNE of Bridgetown, 191 km (118 miles) E of Castries, St. Lucia and 213 km (132 miles) ESE of Fort-De-France, Martinique. It was recorded at a shallow depth of 6.5 km (4.0 miles), according to the United State Geological Survey (USGS).
A slightly stronger quake, measuring 5 magnitude on the Richter Scale, occurred at 4:01 AM on Sunday and was centred 72 km (44 miles) ESE of Castries, St. Lucia, 113km northwest of Bridgetown, Bermuda, and 116 km (72 miles) SE of Fort-De-France, Martinique.
Earthquakes are a regular occurrence in the region but most do not exceed magnitude 3-4. However, several Caribbean countries were jolted on 29 November 2007 when a powerful 7.3 magnitude earthquake centred 25 miles south of Dominica.
The strong quake was felt in Martinique, Dominica, St Lucia, Grenada, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Antigua and Barbuda, St Kitts and Nevis, Guadeloupe and Anguilla. There were also reports of tremors as far south as Guyana and as far north as Puerto Rico.
The below YouTube video shows the effect of the earthquake on a swimming pool in Bermuda. A seiche (pronounced SAYSH) is what happens in the swimming pools of Californians during and after an earthquake. It is “an internal wave oscillating in a body of water” or, in other words, it is the sloshing of the water in your swimming pool, or any body of water, caused by the ground shaking in an earthquake. It may continue for a few moments or hours, long after the generating force is gone. A seiche can also be caused by wind or tides.
