The United States Geological Survey recorded a Magnitude 4.9 Earthquake at a depth of 10.0 km roughly 9 km to the northeast of the commune of Les Abricots on the northern side of the Tiburon Peninsula, Haiti, slightly after 5.10 am local time (slightly after 9.10 am GMT) on Tuesday 6 June 2023. Four people are known to have died following this event, and injuring more than 25, including several children. Three of the deceased are reported to be members of the same family, killed when their house collapsed.
Haiti forms the western part of the island of La Hispaniola, in the Greater Antilles. The island has a complex geological structure, with parts of it lying on three different tectonic plates, and two plate margins running east-to-west across the island. The northernmost part of the island lies on the North American Plate. This is divided from the Gonâve Microplate by the Septentrional Fault Zone, which runs through Rio San Juan, along the north coast of the Dominican Republic and the Tiburon Peninsula of Haiti, then across the Windward Passage and along the south coast of Cuba. The Gonâve Microplate is moving east relative to the North American Plate, pushed by the Mid-Cayman Spreading centre to the west of Jamaica. To the south the Gonâve Microplate is separated from the Caribbean Plate by the Enriquilo-Plantain Garden Fault Zone, which runs across Southern Haiti and the Dominican Republic. To the west the fault runs through central Jamaica. The Caribbean Plate is rotating clockwise, effectively moving east relative to the Gonâve Microplate.
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