Wednesday the geological engineer Claude Prépetit, Director General of the Bureau of Mines and Energy (BME) revealed that according to the report of the seismological unit, during the month of May 2020, the regional and national seismic monitoring network in Haiti had recorded 49 earthquakes of low or medium intensity (1.3 to 4.9 on the open Richter scale)

Mainly, 34.7% of these earthquakes occurred in the Southeast department, 22.5% in the North West and 12.3% in the West department where the Capital Port-au-Prince is located.

Experts estimate that almost half of the earthquakes occurred at sea, at depths varying between 1.5 and 50 kilometers. Recalling that shallow earthquakes are more likely to cause tsunamis.

The strongest earthquake was recorded on May 31 at 3:44 am and 24 seconds of the morning northeast of Borgne (North Dept.) hhttps://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-30906-haiti-flash-earthquake-of-49-in-the-north.html. This earthquake with a magnitude of 4.9 on the Richter scale was located at 19.958° North 72.454° West at sea, at a depth of 10 km, 17 km North-East of Borgne, 35 km North- west of Cap-Haitien (North Dept.) and 150 km north of Port-au-Prince (West Dept.). The earthquake was felt as far as Gonaïves (about 60 kilometers from the epicenter) and was followed by 5 weaker aftershocks within 24 hours https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-30921-haiti-news-zapping.html

Claude Prépetit, recalled that on May 7, 1842, an earthquake of magnitude 8 had destroyed half of the city of the Haitian Cape and warned that if the North of the country were affected by a similar event, they could cause the death of nearly 100,000 people

He stressed that the probability that an earthquake with a magnitude of at least 6 on the Richter scale is followed by a tsunami in Haiti is very high, recalling that the fault that crosses all of the North of the country is located in the sea.

See also :

https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-30927-icihaiti-security-seismologist-prepetit-concerned-about-the-number-of-earthquakes-in-the-great-north.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-30921-haiti-news-zapping.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-30906-haiti-flash-earthquake-of-47-in-the-north.html

SL/ HaitiLibre