Special press release for the islands of St. Maarten Saba and St. Eustatius

Yesterday , January 17, 2008, minor earthquakes were felt again on the island of Saba. The epicenter was at approximately 6 miles ( 10 km) Northwest of the island at a depth of approximately 3 to 6 miles (5 to 10 km.) around 17:46 and 18:32 in the afternoon and evening. The magnitudes varied between 3.5 and 3.6 on the Richter scale. The Meteorological institute KNMI and the Meteorological Service of the Neth. Antilles & Aruba are receiving the seismic signals in real-time.

These series of earthquakes in this region, up to now, do not have a pattern in which at first instance a main big tremor followed by different smaller tremors are experienced. It seems more like a swarm of small quakes of same magnitude at an extended period of time. This was also the case in 1992 and in the period between 1995 and 1997 that such swarms of quakes where experienced. The actual location of the tremors is the same as that during the year 1992 which lasted approximately three weeks.

Meteorological service of the Neth. Antilles & Aruba.

January 18, 2008