A 5.7 magnitude earthquake shook the Deep South Rupununi yesterday at approximately 3.05 pm damaging some structures and unnerving residents of Katoonarib and surrounding villages.
The quake would be the strongest to have been registered in Guyana in many years and was felt in Brazil and Venezuela and all the way to the coast in the capital city.
The United States Geological Survey (USGS) listed the earthquake as 5.7 on the Richter Scale and located the epicentre at 83 km south south east of Lethem.
The European Mediterranean Seismo-logical Centre also listed the temblor at 5.7 and also registered eight aftershocks.
Damage was said to be minimal in communities close to the epicentre. Head of the Civil Defence Commission Kester Craig told Stabroek News last night that an assessment will be conducted today.
The Region 9 (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo) authorities, he said, reported that there is some damage to properties and the surface in the area.
Craig in a Facebook post stated that his agency received a report of the earthquake with a shallow depth of 9.7 km and with an epicentre near Boa Vista, Roraima, Brazil.
“Shallow earthquakes are felt more strongly than deeper ones as they are closer to the surface. CDC’s global disaster response partners stated that the exact magnitude, epicenter, and depth of the earthquake might be revised within the next few hours or minutes as seismologists review data and refine their calculations, or as other agencies issue their report,” he stated just after the earthquake passed.
The earthquake lasted for several minutes and was felt in Regions, 4,6,7,9 and 10.
In an invited comment, he told this newspaper that while the information from the USGS shows the epicentre to be close to the Guyana-Brazil border, the CDC has not been able to do so independently. When contact was established with the University of West Indies Seismic Research Centre, Craig said he was informed that the centre does not have any sensors here and as such they were unable to provide any valuable information.
Scary
Ann Williams, a teacher and a resident of Sawariwau situated in the vicinity of the epicentre said the experience was “scary.”
Recalling what happened, she said at around 3.08 pm they felt the heavy vibrations and quickly ran out of their homes as everything was shaking.
“I was on the bed with my son doing some school work and we felt the vibrations and started to panic so we ran out the house. We just felt this hard vibration and it went on for like 5 minutes. It was continuous and then it went away slowly… When we went out, all the houses were shaking and you could have hear thatch roofs vibrating. It is strange for us because we never experienced anything like this,” the woman related, before stating that the community had heard a loud rumbling since yesterday morning.
She explained that since December the community has been hearing strange noises and feeling vibrations.
“We never take it for nothing but now today we knew that it was an earthquake. It always sounds as if a bus or truck passing,” she related.
According to the woman, in her community the damage was minimal as some walls cracked and items in their homes broke.
Craig in an updated post on his Facebook page stated that the Katoonarib community, Deep South, Rupununi had recorded some damage.
Craig noted that “the Regional Response System is mobilised and ready to conduct assessments and give support to affected families.”
Experiencing
Williams confirmed that Katoonarib suffered more damage than any other neighbouring village and as she was speaking with this newspaper last night, she reported that the community was still experiencing vibrations every five to ten minutes.
She noted that while this is the work of nature and there isn’t much the government and authorities can do, she would like for them to be evacuated since they don’t know what dangers lie ahead.
“Our homes are not built to stand up to an earthquake. We have never experienced this before and it is scary. We keep hearing these rumblings and feeling a vibration every now and then so we don’t know what will happen… we don’t know how long more this will happen or if there will be any more strong hits. They should try and evacuate us,” Williams said.
Region 9 Chairman, Bryan Allicock when contacted told Stabroek News they felt the heavy vibrations in the town of Lethem. He explained that many residents ran out of their homes “because the place was shaking hard.”
Allicock said they were caught off guard and were surprised at the sudden “shaking of the walls and items in the house.”
According to him no damage was recorded in the township but it was unclear what occurred in the other villages. He explained that a team from the Region will join CDC officers for an assessment today.
The Civil Defence Commission, Craig said continues to monitor the effects of the earthquake through the National Emergency Monitoring System (NEMS) and will provide updates as more information becomes available.
Persons who suffered any damage from the impact can contact NEMS at (592) 600.7500 or at (592) 623.1700.
