PHILIPSBURG--Cruise passengers from the world's largest cruise ship – Oasis of the Seas – who were visiting St. Maarten, have another unique experience to tell family and friends about: feeling the earthquake that shook the country just before the ship left port Wednesday afternoon.
The earthquake measured 5.2 on the Richter Scale, according to a special bulletin from the Meteorological Department of Curaçao (MDC) which also said the tremor had occurred eight kilometres (five miles) East-Southeast of Stoney Ground, Anguilla, around 5:29pm.
Based on information from the United States Geological Survey, this tremor was at a depth of some 35 miles below the bottom of the ocean. The epicentre was located near 18.4 degrees North and 62.9 degrees West, or about 21 miles North-Northeast of the Northernmost point of French St. Martin.
A report from the Department of Disaster Management in Anguilla said the epicentre was 17 miles from The Valley and 20 miles from Sandy Ground.
Here in St. Maarten, the heavy shaking sent people who were still at work hurrying out of buildings in Philipsburg and elsewhere. Police officers and other personnel from the Philipsburg police station flowed onto the street, as did people from the Government Administration Building.
The cellular phone network was jammed immediately as family and friends attempted to check on loved ones or to ask the familiar question after a quake: "Did you feel it?" BlackBerry messenger (BBm) continued to function; users quickly "broadcast" information of the magnitude of the earthquake or updated their statuses on Facebook.
In Anguilla, many persons who felt the tremor said they had heard a roaring noise. Up to press time, there were no reports of damage.
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