A magnitude 6.5 earthquake early Tuesday morning shook a few countries in the Caribbean. It extended north of Barbados and east of Martinique an area that is considered one of the most seismically active.

According to the United States Geological Survey, the earthquake occurred 170 kilometres north of Bathsheba, Barbados and 210 kilometres east of Le Francois, Martinique.
Barbadians say they have felt the tremors but there were no reports of damage.

Lorna Inniss, Barbados’ Acting Director of the Coastal Zone Management Unit told members of the media on Tuesday that it’s difficult to predict an earthquake
“This is our biggest challenge, when dealing with earthquakes in general, we have a lot of unknowns.”

She stated that there was a tremor close to the Canary islands during the night and one close to the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico and a number in Europe such as Portugal and Greece. “So in the last 24 hours you can say that this basin seems to have been seismically active.”

The eastern Caribbean was last struck by a powerful earthquake in 2007, when a magnitude-7.4 quake centred just northwest of Martinique’s coastline severely damaged some buildings on the island.