A preliminary magnitude 5.2 seismic event shook the Dominican Republic this Friday at noon, causing concern in various areas of the country with no reports of material damage or injuries.
According to the Dominican Meteorological Institute (INDOMET), the epicenter was located 78 kilometers southeast of La Romana, at a depth of 71.3 kilometers.
The earthquake was felt in the eastern part of the country, including Santo Domingo and Santiago, and it was also felt in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
The director of INDOMET, Gloria Ceballos, confirmed that the institution's collaborators felt the tremor and that "they immediately gathered at the designated meeting point" established for these situations.
The institution dismissed any risk to the Dominican coasts: "Based on the characteristics of the earthquake, it is estimated that there is no tsunami threat to the coasts of the Dominican Republic," the organization stated in its announcement.
The tremor occurs during a time of exceptional seismic activity in the Caribbean.
Just 48 hours earlier, on June 24, two earthquakes of magnitudes 7.1 and 7.5 devastated Venezuela with only 39 seconds in between, leaving so far 589 dead and 2,980 injured.
That Venezuelan event had led INDOMET itself to issue a tsunami alert for the southern coast of the Dominican Republic, which was canceled shortly afterwards as the risk was ruled out.
The UN estimated that 6.76 million people may have been affected by the earthquakes in Venezuela, while the United States Geological Survey issued a Red Alert for the event and calculated a 42% probability that the final number of casualties could range between 10,000 and 100,000 fatalities.
The Dominican Republic is located in a region of moderate to high seismic risk. The island of Hispaniola, which it shares with Haiti, is traversed by several active geological faults.
Among the recent events is a 5.0 earthquake that shook the Peravia province in February 2023, and one of 4.8 that impacted the coasts of the Dominican Caribbean Sea in March 2020.
So far, Dominican authorities have not reported any victims or structural damage associated with the earthquake on Friday.
Global seismic activity has been under unusual scrutiny due to a series of severe earthquakes occurring in the Pacific Ring of Fire and adjacent faults.
Alongside those in Venezuela and the Dominican Republic, an earthquake of magnitude 6.9 in Kuji, Japan has occurred. A strong seismic movement shook the eastern coast of Japan, leaving over a hundred injured but without reporting critical structural damage.
In Sarangani, Philippines, another earthquake of magnitude 6.5 occurred, recorded in the Davao region, releasing a significant amount of energy into the ocean.
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