There's been a whole lot of shakin going on! Most of you probably read that The Bay Islands experienced a 7.3 magnitude earthquake in late May. I personally have never felt anything like it, something I will never forget. A few broken items from shelves, but no structural damage or serious injuries, for that we are grateful. We continue to feel tremors, one as large at 5.2 last week, but I am assured by a geophysicist friend that a 7.3 will never happen again in our lifetime. Below I thought I'd share some of his comments.
"You're sitting on the northern edge of the Caribbean Plate, which is moving to the east. Just north of Utila is the North American Plate, which is moving to the west. They are moving past one another at about 2 centimeters per year. Some faults move up to 10 cm per year,or even more. The fault is nearly vertical, as if you took a knife and sliced straight into the earth. The direction of motion was "left lateral", meaning that the other side of the fault moved to the left relative to you. So you moved to the east, the North American side moved to the west. This is all very normal for the kind of fault you're on, but unusually large. Maps show that there have been other earthquakes near you since 1900, but none as big as last month. The entire Pacific coast of Central America gets many more earthquakes than Utila. You're much safer than, say, the Pacific coast of Costa Rica."
"the short version is that Utila is in a relatively safe area, especially for being smack dab on a Plate Boundary. In fact, I wouldn't expect another magnitude 7 near you in our lifetimes. The good news about that earthquake is that it released a lot of built-up stress. So, although you may still get some little aftershocks for awhile, the major stresses in your little neck of the woods have been released. The same fault may rupture (earthquake) in other places far away from you, but that was likely your "big one".
So, now everyone can feel safe! Come see us on the island, we're holding a hammock for you!
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