Earthquakes / los Terremotos
Yes. We do have earthquakes here in Dominican Republic. Usually there is just a small tremor here and there that cannot even be felt. But sometimes they are for sure a little mover!
The island of Hispanola rose our of the sea due to volcanic action. Dominican Republic has a long history of volcanic and seismic activity. The tallest mountain on the island and for that matter in all of the Caribbean is Pico Duarte. This mountain was at one time an active volcano. It rose out of the sea starting with this mountain and it is still rising. Many of the underwater caves are not under water now. Don't worry about Volcanoes for now. There are no active volcanos on our island.
There are two major fault systems that run through the island. In the North Hispanola Trench. It is located just offshore running parallel to the north coast. The other is the Septentrional Fault Zone which runs from the North Hispanola Trench to the Cibao Valley and Santiago.The Septentrional Fault Zone which is responsible for most of the earthquakes in Dominican Republic's history.
The Puerto Rico Trench (on the Northern side of Puerto Rico and the Northeast tip of Dominican Republic), which is close to the Mona Passage, marks a boundary where the North American tectonic plate and the Caribbean tectonic plate slide past each other, with the North American plate also subducting or sliding beneath the Caribbean plate. With water depths of more than 8 km (5 mi) make the Puerto Rico Trench the deepest part of the Atlantic Ocean. (
see the map and learn more)
The Mona Passage is the water pass that divides Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic in the northeastern Caribbean. This area is very earthquake prone. Since the water level in this passage between the two islands is quite low it is very susceptible to Tsunamis. This passage has very fast flowing and dangerous waters with shifting currents that occur when the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea meet.
Many people say many different things one needs to do to be safe during an earthquake. Stand in a doorway, don't stand in a doorway. Don't go outside, get outside and away from buildings. Get under something inside your house, get in the triangle area around a piece of furniture.
Our suggestion is to do a search and see what you should do incase this happens. We also suggest, If your coming on vacation. Don't worry about it. Just come and enjoy. Leave all the worries at home and relax.
The largest earthquake on record for Dominican Republic was in 1946.It was recorded at 8.1 and hit in the Puerto Plata area ( a small tsunami in Mayagüez and Aguadilla was also recorded at that time).
In March 1993, a 5.2 earthquake affected the south and southwest parts of Dominican Republic along the Mona Passage. In April 1993, a 5.7 earthquake affected the Cibao region. In June 1993 a 5.1 earthquake affected San Francisco de Macoris area in the northeast. It has taken the country a long time to even get an earthquake even close to being a 6. magnitude. So, as you can see, they do not happen often.
There have been many earthquakes and tsunamis resulting from the tectonic-plate motions that have occurred in the history of the northeastern Caribbean.