Earthquake Rattles Residents in Florida and Gulf Coastal Communities

(Image: GoogleEarth)

(Sept. 10, 2006) - While it wasn't strong enough to trigger a tsunami, a magnitude 5.9 earthquake occurred (9:56 a.m. CDT) in the Gulf of Mexico -- causing shock waves that rattled residents from southwest Florida to Louisiana. With its epicenter located 260 miles southwest of Clearwater, Fla. and 330 miles southeast of New Orleans, it was registered as the strongest earthquake to occur the eastern Gulf in 30 years.

There were no reports of injuries or serious damage and a tsunami was not expected, but the tremors were definitely felt and telephones began to ring in National Weather Service (NWS) Weather Forecast Offices (WFO) throughout the affected area. Most of the calls from anxious citizens and media were directed to the forecast offices in Tampa Bay, Melbourne, Jacksonville and Tallahassee, Fla. To a lesser degree, callers also dialed up offices in Key West, Miami, Mobile, Ala. and New Orleans.

Senior Forecaster Scott Kelly noticed the vibrations while working his shift in the Melbourne office -- on Florida's East Coast. "I felt the tremor, my computer screen monitor shook and I could feel a little shaking on the floor," he said. "That's when people started calling in about it." While most of the calls to the WFOs came from people reporting the tremors and asking about the earthquake, others inquired about the threat of a tsunami. In addition to responding to calls, WFO Tampa also disseminated information about the earthquake via the National Warning System.

According to the U.S. Geological Survey's National Earthquake Information Center, this was the largest of more than a dozen earthquakes recorded in the eastern Gulf of Mexico in the past three decades. The previous significant earthquake in the region occurred on February 10, 2006 and had a magnitude of 5.2 on the Richter Scale.

While offshore earthquakes often generate concern about the possibility of a tsunami, the USGS notes the relatively shallow water of the Gulf of Mexico is not generally conducive to the generation of such waves. Nevertheless, the earthquake is yet another reminder of the potential tsunami danger.

At least 3,500 lives have been lost due to tsunamis in the Atlantic and Caribbean basins over the last 200 years. Their location along the convergence of the Caribbean and North American Plates makes Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and their neighbors particularly vulnerable to the tsunami threat.

In recent presentations on risk-to-life assessments for the Western Atlantic and Caribbean coastal regions, NWS Southern Region Director Bill Proenza frequently refers to tsunamis as "El Peligro Olvidado" - the "Forgotten Danger". Despite the disarmingly low frequency of tsunamis in the region, he notes the dramatic increase in low lying coastal populations could result in an enormous loss of life.

The more than 200,000 lives lost during the catastrophic Indian Ocean Tsunami serves as a tragic lesson emphasizing the urgent need for a commitment to tsunami warnings and preparedness - a need to be TsunamiReady.