A powerful earthquake felt as far away as Saint Barth

A powerful tectonic earthquake was recorded on Saturday, May 16, at around 10:50 a.m. in the Antigua and Barbuda region. According to official data from the Guadeloupe Volcanological and Seismological Observatory (OVSG-IPGP), the earthquake had a magnitude of 6.3 on the Richter scale. This magnitude varies depending on the calculation models used, ranging from 5.8 to 6.6. The earthquake is believed to have occurred at a depth of 57 kilometers, at an estimated distance of 80 kilometers from St. John’s in Antigua and Barbuda and approximately 197 kilometers from Saint Barthélemy and Saint Martin.

Tremors were felt in many places: the U.S. Virgin Islands, Dominica, Saint Martin, Sint Maarten, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Montserrat, Puerto Rico, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Venezuela, the Caribbean Netherlands, Antigua and Barbuda, Anguilla, and of course Saint Barthélemy. Saint-Jean, Pointe Milou, Saline, Marigot, Lorient, Cul-de-Sac... Various reports confirm that the earth shook in neighborhoods across the island.

The earthquake has not triggered any tsunami warnings “at this stage,” the prefecture stated in an online post.