Haiti: Moderate Earthquake Hits Western Area

On Tuesday, an earthquake of magnitude four on the open Richter scale shook the communes of Petit-Goâve and Grand-Goâve in Haiti's western department, with no damage reported so far.

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According to the geologist and director of the Mines and Energy Office, Claude Preptit, the epicenter of the earthquake was located at a depth of nine kilometers, between the towns of Miragoâne and Petit-Goâve.

The earthquake caused panic in the affected areas, where school activities were also interrupted.

Last Friday, an earthquake of magnitude 5.3 with epicenter near Fernando de Monte Cristi was also felt in Haiti, especially in the Northeast department and in the capital, Port-au-Prince.

Also, on June 6, another earthquake struck the department of Grand Anse, in the southwest of the country, leaving four dead and 36 injured. Among the fatalities were two girls, aged two and six, respectively.

Haiti suffers recurrent events of this type as it is located at the confluence of several geological faults.

In 2022, the Bureau of Mines and Energy together with the Technical Unit of Seismology recorded more than 1,500 tremors, the largest of which was 5.5 magnitude, with intense activity in the south of the country.

For Preptit, the numerous seismic activities in that region, affected in 2021 by a 7.2 magnitude earthquake, suggest the threat of a strong telluric movement that could be accompanied by a tsunami.