Largest earthquake recorded today at La Soufriere has magnitude of 3.9

The new swarm of Volcano-Tectonic (VT) earthquakes which began at La Soufrière early this morning continued throughout the day, with the largest earthquake, recorded at 2:16 pm, having a magnitude of 3.9.

A bulletin issued by the National Emergency Management Organization (NEMO) at 6:00 pm said the earthquakes, which started at 6:38 am, “continued at a fairly constant rate before starting to decline at about 2:00 p.m.  Activities declined significantly at 4:00 p.m. although small Volcano-Tectonic earthquakes were  still being recorded.”

The bulletin said the “current swarm of Volcano-Tectonic earthquakes have been located at a depth about 6 km  below the summit of the La Soufrière Volcano. This is slightly deeper than those recorded between  March 23 and 25, 2021 which were located at depths from 3 to 5 km below the summit. (Earlier  estimates of these swarms were revised from 10 km to 3 to 5 km).

“The largest Volcano-Tectonic earthquake was recorded at 2:16 pm today, with a magnitude of 3.9.  There were nine more Volcano-Tectonic earthquakes in the swarm with magnitudes of 3.0 or more.

“Today’s swarm of Volcano-Tectonic earthquakes were also much more intense compared to those  which occurred during the period March 23-25 and contained many more small earthquakes, with  an average rate of about 50 earthquakes per hour compared with 1.5 per hour in March.

“There were several reports of earthquakes being felt today in communities close to the La Soufrière Volcano such as Fancy and Chateaubelair.

“The alert level remains at Orange. The National Emergency Management Organisation is  reminding the public that no evacuation order or notice has been issued.

“The National Emergency Management Organisation (NEMO) is also encouraging residents  especially persons living in communities close to the volcano to be prepared in the event that it  becomes necessary to evacuate at short notice.”