A minor earthquake shook sections of Jamaica late yesterday morning. However, up to press time no major damage, deaths or injuries had been linked to the jolt, which lasted about three seconds.
The Earthquake Unit at the University of the West Indies said that the quake occurred at 11:08 a.m., with epicentre near Rockfort in east Kingston.
It registered a magnitude of 3.7 on the European Macroseis-mic Scale, with focal depth of 10 kilometres.
The unit said it received several reports from persons who claimed to have felt the earthquake. Calls to the unit came mostly from Kingston and St. Andrew, said Margaret Wiggins Grandison, a seismologist at the unit.
"The earthquake occurred at the edge of the Wagwater Belt - a region bounded by faults," she said.
Nadine Newsome, information officer in Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM), confirmed that there had been no reports of damage.
The quake was, however, felt in St. Catherine as well, and jolted Portmore residents, some of whom were participating in a simulation exercise, conducted by the ODPEM, to prepare them for a disaster.
"It was kinda frightening," said Jennifer Thomas, resident of Waterford, Portmore. "At first I thought it was a part of the simulation but then I realised it was real. It was almost like a warning from God considering that not many people from Portmore turned up for the evacuation."
One resident, who was not part of the exercise, said: "I felt the thing moving under my bed."
