St Lucia hit by earthquake, tropical storm

CASTRIES, St. Lucia, CMC, – St Lucia, while feeling the wrath of Tropical Storm Kirk, was hit by a strong earthquake on Friday.

There were no immediate reports of injuries or damages.

The Seismic Research Unit of the St Augustine campus of the University of the West Indies (UWI) said that the earthquake, with a magnitude of 5.6, hit the island at 8:32 a.m local time.

The unit said the location of the quake was Latitude: 15.11north, Longitude: 60.43 west at a depth of 10 kilometers.

The quake was felt 134 kilometres northeast of Castries, 108 kilometres east-southeast of Roseau in Dominica and 91 kilometres northeast of Fort-de-France, the capital of the French-speaking island of Martinique.

Tropical Storm Kirk was drenching St Lucia with heavy rains and string winds, knocking out electricity in some parts of the island as well as causing several landslides.

The storm is located 140 miles west-southwest of St Lucia and 160 miles west-southwest of Martinique.

The authorities have discontinued a tropical storm warning for Martinique and Guadeloupe, and the Meteorological Service of Barbados has discontinued the tropical storm warning for the island and Dominica.

A tropical storm warning remains in effect for St Lucia and a tropical storm watch is in effect for St Vincent and the Grenadines.

The Miami-based National Hurricane Centre (NHC) said that the centre of Kirk was located near latitude 13.2 North, longitude 62.5 West and that it is moving toward the west near 12 miles per hour and this motion is expected to continue during the next day or two.

On the forecast track, Kirk’s centre, or its remnants, will move across the eastern and central Caribbean Sea over the next two to three days.

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