A strong earthquake rocked the Caribbean around 3pm off the coast of Martinique. The earthquake was 7.4 on the Richter Scale and lasted anywhere between 20 seconds and 10 minutes. The earthquake was very deep and therefore did not pose a tsunami risk.
According to the U.S. Geological Survey, since the earthquake was especially deep the chance for major damages were low. According to a report in Reuters, Pamela Morin, head of a training school in Martinique said, "When it started, I ran out of the building straight away but when I saw my students were still inside I ran back and shouted, 'Everybody get out.'"The earthquake was felt as far south as Venezuela, Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana. Guyana cleared out their Parliament building when the earth shook. Venezuela also had no reports of damage to any oil and gas installations.
In Trinidad none of the valuable oil fields or oil and gas refineries were affected. Trinidad and Tobago is the largest supplier of liquid natural gas (LNG) to the United States. According to AP reports, "the shaking sent workers streaming out of office towers into the streets of the capital, Port-of-Spain."
