PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (AP) - A strong earthquake shook Trinidad yesterday afternoon, damaging several buildings south of the capital, officials and residents said. No injuries or damage to the country's important gas industry were reported.
The temblor had a preliminary magnitude of 5.4, according to the US National Earthquake Information Service in Golden, Colorado. Magnitude 5 earthquakes can cause considerable damage.The epicentre was located near the town of Mayaro, some 20 kilometres (12.5 miles) south of the capital, Port of Spain.
Several residents from Mayaro called private TV6 to report severe cracks to their homes. Most cellular telephone service was down in Trinidad.
Trinidad and Tobago, a former British colony of 1.2 million residents, has an important offshore oil and gas industry but there were no reports that it suffered any damage.
In recent years, Trinidad has become the leading supplier of liquid natural gas to the United States, supplying 75 per cent of imports last year. Liquid natural gas comprised only three per cent of the total natural gas used in the United States in 2003, but that share is expected to grow to 15 per cent by 2025.
Yesterday's quake came more than a week after a 6.3 temblor rocked Guadeloupe and Dominica in the Caribbean, killing a five year-old girl and damaging scores of buildings.
It was the first earthquake of this magnitude on record that hit on land in Trinidad, said Stacey Edwards, a spokeswoman for the Seismic Research Unit at the University of the West Indies in Trinidad.
The tremors could be felt as far away as Crown Point, Tobago, on the island's southwest corner, she said.
A 5.5 magnitude earthquake was recorded in Trinidad in May of 1994 but its epicentre was offshore. No injuries or damage was reported in that quake.
