Belizeans feel shocks from Chiapas earthquake

Depending on where you live and what time you got up, this morning’s coffee may have had an extra kick, as an earthquake in Chiapas, Mexico shook up many parts of Belize, over four hundred miles away. According to Acting Chief Meteorologist Ramon Frutos, the aftershocks were most prominent over the western and northern sectors of the country.

Ramon Frutos, Acting Chief Meteorologist
“Those tremors people were feeling were light to moderate I would say on a scale from one to seven. Seven would be the highest tremors that were felt very near the epicentre in Chiapas and one would be the weaker tremors that were felt further away from the epicentre. So, in Belize on that scale what we felt were tremors of the order of two and three.”

Kendra Griffith, Reporting
There were no casualties or major damage reported in Chiapas and its surrounding areas, but Pemex did shut down an oil refinery a hundred miles away to asses any possible damage.

According to Acting Chief Meteorologist Ramon Frutos, an earthquake is caused by shifting tectonic plates beneath the earth’s surface.

Ramon Frutos
“The centre of the earth is molten rock and silicate other elements that are in molten or liquid form, but they are very, very hot and what happen is that different solid plates or tectonic plates are floating on this magna, so when an earthquake erupts, it’s the magma that is coming from the centre of the earth up through the crust of the earth and then explodes or erupts through the volcano.”

Kendra Griffith
“Whenever things like this occurs and tremors are felt in Belize, it makes people wonder if we can get an earthquake here in Belize. Is that a possibility?”

Ramon Frutos
“Well we can get very strong tremors in Belize, not necessarily an earthquake as such because Belize is not a very mountainous country, but indeed we can get the very strong aftershocks and tremors as we felt back in the 1970s when we had that major earthquake over Guatemala City.”

“In the 90s we felt a very strong earthquake emanating from the Caribbean and that earthquake sent some very strong tremors throughout Belize and I’m not too sure what year that was in the late 1990s and that resulted in some destruction or cracking of many houses in western and northern Belize also.”

Kendra Griffith
“In the event that Belize does experience strong tremors, what should people do?”

Ramon Frutos
“First of all, the tremors only last a very short period of time, especially if they of low intensity. If they are of strong intensity, they will last longer. The first thing you should try to do is get out of your house or building if necessary, especially if it is a ferro concrete two storey, three storey building, you try to get out. In the event you cannot get out, then you try to stay at least in a doorway or where you have those big beams crossing, that’s the best place.”

Another safe zone is under a bed or table. Kendra Griffith reporting for News Five.

When it hit this morning the earthquake was measured at six point six on the Richter scale. That number was revised to six point four and by this evening further downgraded to five.