The University of the West Indies Seismic Research Centre (UWI-SRC) says it is monitoring a cluster of earthquakes northeast of the island arc, east of Guadeloupe, after more than a dozen tremors were recorded throughout Monday, several of which were felt in Antigua and Barbuda.
In a public update, the UWI-SRC said that while the events do not meet the parameters for automatic posting by its algorithm because of their offshore locations, seismic technicians are manually publishing the data on social media. The agency confirmed that aftershocks are expected to continue and that its interactive map will be updated accordingly.
Among the recorded events were two minor quakes Monday afternoon — one at 2:36 p.m. measuring magnitude 3.5 at a depth of 40 kilometres, followed a minute later by another 3.7-magnitude tremor at 35 kilometres depth. Both occurred east-southeast of Antigua and Barbuda, approximately 280 kilometres from St. John’s, and northeast of Dominica.
Earlier in the day, the centre had also reported stronger activity in the same general region, including a magnitude 5.4 quake at 9:26 a.m. and a magnitude 6.1 event at 8:55 a.m., both located northeast of Dominica and roughly 265 kilometres east-southeast of Antigua and Barbuda.
Although no damage or injuries have been reported, residents across Antigua, Dominica, and Guadeloupe described feeling light to moderate shaking. One St. John’s resident told Antigua.News that the morning tremor “lasted nearly a minute and made the whole house shake.”
The UWI-SRC noted that the recent activity is part of a seismic sequence in the northeast Caribbean. “We expect aftershocks to continue,” the centre reiterated, reminding the public that the Eastern Caribbean sits along a major tectonic boundary between the Caribbean and North American plates — one of the most seismically active zones in the region.
Residents who experience shaking are encouraged to share their observations using the official feedback form at uwiseismic.com.
