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Earthquake Shakes Naval Station GTMO

Navy NewsStand

Story Number: NNS080212-05
Release Date: 2/12/2008 8:42:00 AM

By Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Kimberly Williams, Naval Station Guantanamo Bay Public Affairs

GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba (NNS) -- An earthquake shook Naval Station (NAVSTA) Guantanamo (GTMO) Bay, Feb. 11 at 9:09 a.m.

The 4.4 magnitude tremor occurred 11.8 miles below sea level, 35 miles southwest of the base.

"Our seismographic satellite, located on the ridgeline, recorded and transmitted the data about the earthquake to Houston which in turn, sent the information to Colorado for decoding," said Electronics Technician 1st Class Jerry Ramm, NAVSTA calibration lab.

The NAVSTA calibration lab is the local outfit in charge of maintaining the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) site and is one of nine stations part of the Caribbean Earthquake and Tsunami early detection net.

While this is the first quake of 2008 recorded by the USGS National Earthquake Information Center, it is not a rare phenomenon.

"The Caribbean in general has pretty regular seismicity," said Lind Gee, USGS – Albuquerque Seismological Laboratory. "The event [earthquake] occurred on the strike-slip fault just south of Cuba. It is likely that there will be some small aftershocks, although they may be too small to be felt at GTMO."

GTMO is not a stranger to inclement weather and natural phenomena and the base is fully prepared in the event of a more powerful earthquake. In 2007, the base was hit by both a hurricane and a tropical storm.

"A lot of our hurricane preparedness applies to earthquake. Both put the same lateral loads on a building, so making our buildings hurricane resistant helps with seismic protection as well," said Cmdr. Jeff Johnston, Guantanamo Bay public works officer.

Along with GTMO, officials believe that nearby Santiago de Cuba felt the most shaking from the quake.

"There is enough seismicity in the Caribbean region that I would expect earthquakes to be felt from time to time," said Gee.

The USGS recorded a magnitude 7.6 earthquake Nov. 29, 2007 25 miles from the northwest coast of Fort-de-France, Martinique, which is also in the Caribbean Antilles Islands.

There was no damage to any property on board NAVSTA Guantanamo Bay from the earthquake.

For more news from Naval Station Guantanamo, visit www.navy.mil/local/guantanamo/.