The Seismic Research Centre (SRC) Wednesday said that three ‘events’ occurred north west of Trinidad during a 20 minute period on Tuesday night.
In a statement, the SRC based at the St. Augustine campus of the University of the West Indies, said that the ‘these events’ occurred at 9.38 pm, 9.41 pm and 10.01pm (local time’.
It said that they had a magnitude of 4.4, 4.2 and 4.0 respectively, adding that when two of the ‘events occurred ‘the automatic solution was unable to process these events’.
Map released by SRC showing the areas where the ‘events’ occurred (SRC Photo)
But in a subsequent statement, the SRC said ‘as noted previously, our automatic solution can sometimes fail to share an event. When this occurs outside of our working hours, the data will be processed by the technicians and shared accordingly’.
The ‘events’ have led to widespread rumours here, linking them with the ongoing joint military exercises involving the United States and the Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force.
Some residents have taken to radio and social media saying that houses have been shaking as the US helicopters and other material make their way across the country, particularly at nights.
One person posted on Facebook that ‘Monday afternoon there was a 3.9 earthquake. Within minutes, UWI Seismic had its usual data available to the public. Strength. Location. Time. Etc..
‘Last evening there were 2 strong tremors felt. And thus far we have no information on its source/cause. If it was not a seismic event (which is what UWI can report on), then our state agencies ought to be letting us know what caused two tremors last evening.’
Last week, Foreign and CARICOM Affairs Minister Sean Sober said that the training will take place ‘across Trinidad and Tobago in both urban and rural environments with operations scheduled during dusk and after dark ‘.
Meanwhile, Satellite images from Sentinel-2 confirm that the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group is positioned off the coast of Trinidad and Tobago as part of the US joint military manoeuvres that ends on Friday.
The USS Iwo Jima (LHD-7) is positioned 69 km north of Venezuela’s Paria Peninsula, while the USS Fort Lauderdale (LPD-28) and an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer are 21 km from Isla de Patos
At the same time, real-time air tracking shows a U.S. Air Force KC-135R Stratotanker operating directly in the corridor north of Venezuela and west of Trinidad and Tobago.
The US has been building up its military off the coast of Venezuela in a bid to deal with the illegal drugs trade, even as political observers say Washington is seeking to remove President Nicolas Maduro from office in the South American country.