On a Wednesday afternoon, a low-intensity earthquake registered at 3.5 on the Richter scale shook multiple populated areas across Jamaica, according to official updates from the Earthquake Unit hosted at the University of the West Indies (UWI).
Early data collected by the monitoring agency places the timing of the seismic event at roughly 4:11 pm local time, with shaking reported across three parishes: St Catherine, Kingston, and St Andrew. Geoscientists mapped the epicentre of the tremor roughly 15 kilometres south of Annotto Bay, a coastal town in the parish of St Mary, falling within the geologically active Wagwater Trough North zone.
Further technical details show the earthquake originated at a focal depth of 18 kilometres below the surface. The UWI Earthquake Unit confirmed that the tremor formed in the Caribbean Sea and classifies it as a localized seismic event for the island nation.
In the immediate aftermath of the shaking, emergency management agencies and local officials have not received any reports of human injuries or structural damage linked to the earthquake. Jamaica sits within a seismically active zone in the Caribbean, meaning low-magnitude tremors are recorded on a relatively regular basis without causing widespread disruption to local communities.