yea,, they were all here early,, right on schedule.

Hi, I'm in new york......my family is in the Mango Creek /Independence area any word on how people are doing there?

only thing i heard is they are most likely out of water,,,

GenaG,

The first half hour or so of tonight's Channel 7 broadcast was video from southern Belize. Check the website later tonight after it has been updated.

http://www.7newsbelize.com/

News summations from Channel 5...

Earthquake measuring 7.1 on Richter scale shakes Belize
 

Two major events dominate the news tonight: a strong earthquake that jolted from the southern to the central region of the country and the state visit of the President of Taiwan, Ma Ying-jeou. But first, the last time Belizeans experienced any tectonic shifts significant enough to register in memory was on Sunday, August 23rd, 1998. On that day a tremor measuring 5.7 on the Richter scale rocked homes in Belize, even though the epicenter was off the Pacific Coast of Nicaragua. But at 2:24 this morning, Belizeans were awakened to a much stronger quake – whose epicenter was located 60 miles northwest of La Ceiba, Honduras. Fortunately, the 7.1 tectonic shift did not cause any deaths locally, but it certainly left many people all shook up. At the break of dawn, Marion Ali flew by chopper south to Monkey River Village, the area which reported the most damage.

Marion Ali, Reporting
From the sky the tiny fishing village of Monkey River in the Toledo District appears normal, but a closer look from ground level quickly reveals the first signs of a phenomenon. Where green grass once stood now sits layers of thick wet mud. Because many of the homes are wooden, infrastructure suffered the most damage. Some of the dwellings were tilted to one side after the soft earth beneath them gave way, while other structures simply could not bear the seismic test of the 7.1 quake and crashed violently to the ground. And while houses were crashing to the ground, water from beneath the earth was instead forcing its way upwards.

While the villagers experienced infrastructural damage, everyone is breathing a sigh of relief that no life was lost as a result of the quake. Reporting for News Five, Marion Ali.

The most urgent need in the village is running water since water supply was interrupted by the earthquake.
 
The Damage in Placencia

There was considerable damage to the infrastructure on the Placencia Peninsula. The quake created what have been described, and what these pictures show, as major cracks on the village’s main street.

The damage is mainly to the area in front of the Belize Bank and more importantly the road leading to the village’s main dock. There was also some damage to the Belize Bank building.

There is also what pretty major damage to the Placencia Fishermen Cooperative’s building and its dock. That is worrying because the lobster season opens on June 15th. The seashore dive shop next door has also been damage and so has the dock for the Shell gas station.


Placencia residents assess damages after tremor
 

In our continued coverage of the tremor, News Five Jose Sanchez, travelled to the peninsula where he found the community on edge.

Jose Sanchez, Reporting
In southern Belize on the Placencia peninsula, residents were shaken out of their beds early this morning by the tremors of the earthquake.

The Village Chairman, Brian Yearwood, liaised with the Police and made checks around the peninsula.

Brian Yearwood, Chairman, Placencia Village
“When we got to the point, we noticed that one of the piers were down and one of the piers were badly damaged with the fuel pumps at the end of the pier. That was broken up and maybe another 15minutes west of that was another pier, a dive shop which was actually the floor that was sitting in the water. It had dropped maybe a couple of feet. Then we patrolled and naturally the current went out and we led with our flashlights and checked all the buildings and the people and as we proceeded around we noticed that there were cracks in cement mainly at the point. We noticed that there were cracks in the street from about 6 to 8 inches.”

Classes were called off at St. John’s Anglican Memorial School. Staff and faculty were assessing the cracks and separations of the steps and verandas of the school building. But the reason for the school closure was that there was no potable water in Placencia.

Brian Yearwood
“I also met with the Principal early this morning and they told me that there was no need for the kids to go to school because they didn’t have any water to drink and I didn’t think it was safe for them to go to school. The water tower was badly damaged. We heard that the one in Mango Creek had collapsed. So we rushed out to see ours and we saw right away from the spotlight, we could tell it was damaged. Right now it looks a little shaky. I can't really tell right now but an engineer—we have to get an engineer in quickly and assess the damage and see if that’s gonna have to be reinforced because as you can see it’s cracked at the bottom and at the top of each of the four legs. We don’t know it will come down or not right now. So we’re just hoping that it remains as it is. What we did was we emptied all the water out the reservoir at the top so we just have water at the bottom. So that released the weight from the top.”

There were other parts of the village that were affected. The floor and tiles of the Placencia Producers Fishermen Cooperative were ripped apart like a rag doll. And on a nearby pier, Brian Young, the owner of Sea Horse Dive Shop, found his business sinking in the sea.

Brian Young, Placencia Resident
“Fortunately, I was in Belize City this morning so I felt the tremor in Belize City as well. Immediately my son called me and told me damage and I head down to Placencia and was here about 6:00 this morning.”

Jose Sanchez
“What kind of damages you had?”

Brian Young
“Well, unfortunately, if you can look at the dive shop, it totally submerged from where it was. I think it dropped about 4 feet and all the posts just went right down like some other building on the mainland. It just went right down and we were unfortunately, one of the people that suffered that consequence.”

J Bird’s special drink of the day was the “Fault Line,” a homage to the cracked floors and gaping space between the bar’s walls.

The concrete floor of VJ Vegetable Shop appear to have been pried apart from dark depths. And next door, workers from V and V Supermarket were restocking the shelves with goods that fell on the floor.

Residents continue to clean and repair the damages. The tremors took the peace of the night, but did not rob any resident of life. Reporting for News Five, Jose Sanchez.

The Village Chairman believes they will have running water soon.
 

Independence village water tower crashes to the ground
 

From Placencia, the News Five crew headed to Independence. And like other parts of the country impacted by the early morning tremor, the residents were still in shock.

Jose Sanchez, Reporting
Independence Village rests on higher ground than Placencia and also experienced less damage. But Independence residents shared the same trauma of all earthquake victims.

There were also no loss of life in Independence, but the water supply in the village was cut.

According to the Village Chairman, there is no water because during the earthquake, the water tower had swayed and toppled with a towering boom.

George Murray, Chairman, Independence Village
“The first thing I did, I heard when the tank fell because it sound like a boom. Immediately I told my wife, that’s the water tank and I came out here with my flashlight, me and my grandson. We came and saw the tank down, lights were out, not much you could see and not much you could do. Immediately I picked up the phone and call the Manager of the Water Board, Mrs. Mirna, and she said that she is already assessing the situation and she was going out to the main pump site to cut off the water so the water wouldn’t be throwing away. At daybreak I got in my vehicle and I went street to street over the village and fortunately the only damage was the water tank.”

Jose Sanchez
“No one was hurt.”

George Murray
“No, no, no, not as far as I know. No one was hurt and we can happily tell the villagers that we will still have water even if we don’t have any tank. We are working on setting the main direct from the pump.”

Dwight Neal, Chairman, Water Board
“We have crew working, we are trying to reconnect the main line. From all investigations and observations, that’s the only break that we have apart from the tank falling of course. Now, the system is set up in such a way that we can pump directly into the distribution system. Once we’re reconnected the main line, which was broken when the tank fell, we can start pumping back into the system. What we can say to people is that we are going to work on this all day until we get it going again, even if it is until this evening because water is everybody’s business.”

Sink hole forms on San Pedro during tremors
 

The effects of the earthquake was also felt on the islands. The news coming from Ambergris Caye is not about a building collapsing, but of the formation of a natural phenomenon.
 
The San Pedro Sun newspaper reports that on the north end of Ambergris Caye, a sinkhole appeared this morning. The 30 wide sinkhole was formed near the Ak'bol Yoga Retreat. It was discovered around 7:00 a.m. by the gardener of the resort. The formation is believed to have been caused by the tremors of the earthquake.
 

Earthquake claims at least 4 lives in Honduras
 

And in Honduras, the earthquake had the worst effect. It is confirmed so far that at least 4 persons were killed and among the damage to infrastructure, is a $10 million dollar bridge that collapsed. The Honduran Ambassador, Manuel Sandoval, describes the situation in the aftermath of this morning’s tremor.

Manuel Sandoval, Honduran Ambassador to Belize
“I believe that Central America, primarily Honduras, is the area most affected by this earthquake. According to reports from COPECO, which is the institution that deals with disasters and contingencies, there are 4 deaths; a 3-year-old, two 9-year-olds and a 15-year-old. They were from various parts of Honduras and they died as a result of structures falling on them. The largest structural damage was from a bridge called La Democracia. It’s a bridge that was donated by the Government of Japan at an approximate cost of $10 million. A portion of the bridge collapsed and presumably a car was passing at the same time, causing it to fall into the river. Two public buildings suffered damages as well. The roof of one of them fell off. There are about 50 houses throughout the country that were damaged or destroyed. Other bridges have cracks on them and the coastal city of La Ceiba also suffered physical damages."

The Ambassador also said that there is no red flag yet in respect of relief assistance since most of the damages were sustained to government property.

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This story from Channel 7


Quake Damaged BEL' s Independence Substation

And, one more note on the earthquake, BEL today stated that only its Independence Substation was damaged which caused an hour and half long outage. According to BEL, the outage that occurred in Belmopan just after 8:00 this morning was not as a result of any aftershocks, but the blackout was due to maintenance work being conducted.

BECOL further states that following an inspection of the Challilo and Mollejon Hydroelectric facilities the reservoir levels remain normal at both facilities.

NEMO confirms earthquakes in St Lucia and Dominica

CASTRIES, St Lucia -- On May 27, 2009 at 5.00 pm an earthquake occurred east of St Lucia. The event was located at 14.00 degrees North and 60.86 degrees West. It measured 3.4 on the Richter scale at a depth of 48 kilometers. A few residents in the Ravine Toutrelle/ Marchand area, White Rock and Monier reportedly felt the tremor. There were no damages reported.

It was also reported that at 12.28 pm on May 28, 2009 an earthquake also occurred southeast of Dominica. The event was located at 15.04 degrees North and 60.48 degrees West. The magnitude was 4.0 and depth was 48 kilometers. No damages were reported either. Two residents of Ravine Toutrelle/Marchand and a resident of Morne Fortune told Caribbean Net News that they felt Thursday's earthquake. This reporter felt both earthquakes.

The National Emergency Management Organization has reminded the public of what should be done in the event of an earthquake:

1. Remain calm.
2. If one is still feeling shaking stay where you are until the shaking stops.
3. Once the shaking stops you can move around and take care of any injured persons.
4. Move away from the coastline, and get away from the sea.
5. Be careful in case the earthquake shook anything loose.
6. Remember to have an engineer to check your building to make sure it is safe.

More Tremors Shake Belize

Did you feel a tremor around 8:45 last night? Or maybe those in the south felt one at 6:45 this morning. If you felt either of them, it wasn’t your imagination, nor was it post-traumatic stress; those were real, both aftershocks of Thursday morning’s powerful 7.1 magnitude earthquake. The epicenter of the major quake was about 140 miles east of the Stann Creek Coast and caused major structural damage in the villages of Monkey River, Independence and Placencia. As we showed you last night, that structural damage was quite remarkable in Monkey River where many wooden houses on stilts simply sunk into the ground – some sunk as much as eight to ten feet. As we told you last night, that’s called earthquake liquefaction and today geologist Andre Cho explained what causes the strange phenomenon.

Andre Cho, Geologist
“What happens in an earthquake whenever the seismic waves pass through sediment, loose sediments, it is a natural phenomenon for the sediment to become like a liquid just for a short period of time, just a couple seconds, and that is what is known as liquefaction and that is what causes buildings to sink like what happened in Monkey River. It is on coastal alluvium or sediments which is unconsolidated. So places like Monkey River and Belize City as well, because it is on the coast and it lies on top of unconsolidated sediments or coastal sediments, those places are very vulnerable to liquefaction.”

Jules Vasquez,
We’ve also seen a number of very pronounced fissures on the surface of the ground. What is that as a result of?

Andre Cho,
“Again that is simply a result of the seismic activity, the seismic waves produced from the earthquake and it is just causes breaks on the surface of the ground. So it is shallow, just a couple inches sometimes, but again that is just a common result of an earthquake. It doesn’t pose any risks to building any houses or any other large structures.”

As for the water that gushed out of the ground all over the village, Cho explained that it is the water from within the soil itself which it is forced to the surface. A remarkable and previously unseen phenomenon, but the earthquake’s epicenter was about 150 miles from the coast of Monkey River so that is to be expected.

NEMO press release no 1

EARLY MORNING EARTHQUAKE CENTERED OFF THE HONDURAN COAST AROUND 2:24 AM LOCAL TIME THURSDAY May 28, 2009. QUAKE MEASURED 7.1 ON RICHTER SCALE.

Belize Situation: Most affected area – Southern Belize, specifically Monkey River, Independence and Placencia Villages in the Stann Creek District.

MONKEY RIVER:

- 5 houses destroyed

- 20 or so other houses that were 6 feet support columns sunk to approximately 3 feet.

- Damages reported to water lines of the village's rudimentary water system. Village temporarily out of water.

- NEMO has dispatched 15 hundred gallons of water to Monkey River. 5 hundred 5 gallon containers arrived this morning while 1 thousand 1 gallon containers arrived later in the morning.

INDEPENDENCE:

- Water reservoir in the village was destroyed. Damages also reported on a number of houses there.

PLACENCIA:

- Water reservoir damaged.

- Remaining water inside the reservoir was ordered to be drained out.

Preliminary report indicates that houses were also damaged in Placencia. The village has a backup supply of water.

- In general, engineers identifying breaks in water lines and working on them to have full water supply back to normal hopefully by day's end.

CHALILLO DAM:

- Officials at BECOL are reporting NO STRUCTURAL DAMAGES to the dam in the Cayo District as several concerns were raised by residents in that area.

NEMO's immediate response in any emergency is getting into affected areas with assistance to affected residents. Since early morning NEMO's District Emergency Centers and Coordinators have been activated and have committee members and volunteers on the ground conducting assessments.

Preliminary reports from NEMO's Damage Assessment and Needs Analysis Committee indicates that the school building in Seine Bight Village, Stann

Creek sustained damages

Teachers in Southern Belize are urged to check on conditions of their classrooms.

Motorists using the hummingbird and southern highways are asked to exercise caution on the road and when crossing bridges.

Minor oil spill reported at Belize Natural Energy BNE compound in Big Creek but was quickly contained. NEMO was informed that about 5 gallons or so of crude oil spilled from one of the company's storage tanks.

No damage reported in the agricultural sector

Earthquakes: A Way of Life for Belize

And the reason those coastal communities got hardest hit is because they are directly in line with what’s called the Motagua fault, the boundary of the North American and Caribbean tectonic plates. IT may sound technical, but you need to know because that plate boundary cuts right between Honduras and Belize and it’s friction along that fault that caused Thursday’s quake. Cho explained.

Andre Cho, Geologist
“Belize lies on the North American Tectonic Plate, Central America and the Caribbean Plate and there is a transformed plate boundary down there that is sliding, the two plates are sliding cross each other and so it cause faults in the rocks and as the rocks are sliding each other, friction holds them together and so energy is being built up in there and when the energy overcomes the friction it breaks the rocks and causes the energy to be released in the form of an earthquake. So once that energy has been released the major earthquake has passed and then like I said you will normally experience some tremors for some time after. Another earthquake won’t occur again until that same scenario where it is built up again and then violently released.”

Jules Vasquez,
Are earthquakes a reality that we will now have to live with?

Andre Cho,
“Yes it has always been so. We just haven’t experienced one like this because like I said we are right near to a plate boundary, the transplant plate boundary between the North American and Caribbean plate. Historically we just haven’t experienced large earthquakes like this one or larger but we have always been in a earthquake prone zone and so an earthquake is a real hazard that we live with and we need to be prepared for. Because we are near to this transplant plant boundary, and like I said earthquakes are a reality that we have always lived with.

It is just like I said historically we haven’t experienced any major earthquakes or any damages from earthquakes. But like I said, this recent earthquake is a wake up call for us. We need to know and realize and understand that we do live near a plate boundary and we need to be aware of earthquakes and be prepared for them.”

While stressing that he is not a seismologist that studies earthquakes – indeed, there’s no one with that specialty in Belize – and a geologist is the next best thing. The last time Belizeans recall feeling such a powerful quake was in 1976 when that same fault line, called the Motagua fault caused a 7.5 magnitude quake. It struck inside Guatemala near Puerto Barrios. It struck at 3:00 in the morning and killed over twenty thousand. So far in this quake, Honduras is reporting six dead, and Belize one elderly woman from Dangriga who expired in the fright.

In Monkey River NEMO reports that 31 structures were damaged, with 8 houses badly damaged and another two extensively damaged. The footing for the water tower was also damaged. In Independence, the water supply has been restored and Seine Byte reports minimal damage to the school building. Columns for the water tower in that village are also a concern. The full report on Placencia hasn’t been sent out yet but the water reservoir was damaged and a number of homes were affected. Again, NEMO has not completed its report on that village.

Letter to the Editor:

To whom it may concern,

This commentary is directed at those in charge of Coral Cable Vision. With regard to what occurred with the earthquake early Thursday morning, nobody here in San Pedro knew that it was that but when we found out, all Central Americans worried since the majority of them know that our countries have gone through this before, especially El Salvador. Everyone is worried about relatives that we have in our countries. In Belize, we know that it is difficult to be informed about what happens in our countries, that we need to call or go to a computer with internet in order to be sure that no tragedy has occurred with our compatriots. For this lack of information of ours, there is already a solution. DirecTV provides channel 429 called Telecentro. This channel has news from Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica.

Furthermore, the channel also has other programming from those countries, putting this channel on the list of 86 channels that they already have would be a good type of marketing for Coral Cable Vision. The majority of San Pedroans are or have relatives in these counties. For more information, see www.tvtelecentro.com For me and the rest of the Central Americans on the island, it would be a good option to enjoy our television set from now on with this channel. Thank you for your time. I hope this will have a positive result. Thank you.


============
Actually received in Spanish, here's the original in case its more fluent

A quien interese, Este comentario esta dirigido a los encargados de Coral Cable Vision. En relacion a lo ocurrido con el terremoto el jueves en la madrugada, nadie aca en San Pedro sabia que fuese eso pero cuando nos enteramos todos los centroamericanos preocupados ya que la mayoria sabe que nuestros paises ya han pasado por esto, especialmente El Salvador. Todos preocupados por los familiares que tenemos en nuestros paises. En Belice sabemos que es dificil estar enterados de lo que sucede en nuestros paises sino es que tenemos que llamar o ir a un computador con internet para estar seguro que no haya ocurrido una tragedia con nuestros compatriotas. Para esta falta de informacion de nosotros ya hay una solucion. DirecTV proporciona el cacal 429 llamado Telecentro. Este canal tiene noticieros de Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua y Costa Rica. Ademas el canal tiene otra programacion de estos paises. Colocando este canal en la lista de 86 canales que ya tienen seria un buen tipo de mercadeo para Coral Cable Vision. La mayor parte de San Pedranos son o tienen familiares en estos paises. Para mas informacion ver www.tvtelecentro.com Tambien ver articulo: http://dtv.client.shareholder.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=342791 Para mi y demas centroamericanos en la isla seria una buena opcion de disfrutar nuestro televisor de ahora en adelante con este canal. Por su tiempo gracias, espero que esto tenga un resultado positivo. Gracias.