M 6.5 Earthquake - January 1907, Jamaica

Submitted by administrator on Sun, 18/02/2007 - 22:37. Earthquakes – Mass movement – Kingston

Start date: 14/01/1907

End date:

Location:

Jamaica

Lat/Long: 18.200000/-76.700000

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On 14 January 1907, the capital, Kingston, was severely damaged by a magnitude 6.5 earthquake and following fires that burnt 56 acres of the city¹,². Port Royal, located six miles to the south of Kingston suffered moderate damage¹.

The rails of street car routes were twisted, water supplies were damaged and a section of the capital's shoreline sank. Damage outside a radius of 1.6 km of Kingston was minimal. The capital, however, suffered badly due to liquefaction of underlying sands and gravels¹.

¹ American Geographical Society. 1907. The Kingston Earthquake. Bulletin of the American Geographical Society. Vol. 39, pp 102-103

² Caribbean Disaster Mitigation Project. 2001. Final Report: Kingston Metropolitan Area Seismic Assessment .
http://www.oas.org/cdmp/document/kma/seismic/kma2.htm

Event overview table

No. Deaths	1,000
No. Injured
No. Affected
Houses destroyed
Houses damaged	10,000
Other damage
Economic cost	$30,000,000

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