7.6 Magnitude Earthquake Strikes Caribbean, Tsunami Warnings Posted

Update 11:43pm EST: The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center has lifted the tsunami warning for most of the Caribbean — including Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. However, Honduras and Belize are still threatened by 0.3 to 1 meter tsunami waves. The PTWC forecasts the following estimated time of arrival for these surges:

    LOCATION         REGION             COORDINATES    ETA(UTC)
    ------------------------------------------------------------
    PUERTO CORTES    HONDURAS          15.9N  88.0W   0342 01/10
    BELIZE CITY      BELIZE            17.5N  88.2W   0452 01/10

Still recovering from the double-blow of Hurricane Irma and Hurricane Maria, Puerto Rico — with 40% of its residents still without power — and the US Virgin Islands are bracing for yet another natural disaster. A powerful 7.6 magnitude earthquake (initially reported to be 7.8 magnitude) struck off of Honduras, leading authorities to issue tsunami warnings for Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands:

The US State Department also notes tsunami advisories are in effect for the Cayman Islands, Jamaica, Mexico, Honduras, Cuba, Belize, San Andres and Providencia, Costa Rica, Panama, Nicaragua and Guatemala.

Surges between 0.3 and 1 meter (1-3 feet) are possible in the region from this earthquake. The 7.6 magnitude earthquake is one of the most powerful earthquakes on record for the Caribbean:

The epicenter is calculated to be 27 miles off of Great Swan Island in Honduras:

As of 11:22pm local time (10:22pm EST), the National Weather Service in San Juan recommended that everyone evacuate off beaches and low-lying areas:

11:22pm Recommended actions: persons located in/near the ocean should move out of the waters, off the beach and away from the harbor.

Acciones recomendadas: personas cerca o en el agua deben alejarse de las aguas, fuera de las playas y alejados de los puertos.

— NWS San Juan (@NWSSanJuan) January 10, 2018

Source: thepointsguy.com