5.2-magnitude quake shakes eastern Dominican Republic

Santo Domingo.- A 5.2-magnitude earthquake shook multiple regions of the Dominican Republic at 5:23 a.m. Tuesday, the National Seismology Center of the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo (UASD) reported. Residents across La Altagracia province and beyond felt the early-morning tremor, which caused brief alarm but no immediate reports of damage or injuries.

Seismologists pinpointed the quake’s epicenter 37 kilometers east-southeast of Boca de Yuma, La Altagracia, at a depth of 196 kilometers beneath the surface. Francisco Holguín, a UASD meteorologist, said Tuesday on Grupo Telemicro’s La Opción de la Mañana program that those measurements come after an initial, higher estimate of magnitude 5.7 was revised to 5.2 upon further analysis.

The tremor registered strongly in San Rafael and Mata Hambre and was clearly felt in tourist hubs such as Punta Cana and Bávaro. Residents in nearby La Romana, Bayahíbe and surrounding towns also reported swaying lights and rattled windows, though none described prolonged shaking or structural damage.