Tortola, Monday January 16th, 2006 - The Puerto Rico Seismic Network is reporting another earthquake in the Virgin Islands region in less than a week. A minor earthquake measuring a magnitude of 3.3 on the Richter scale was reported to have been felt in St. Thomas, St. John and the BVI at 12:23am.

The Puerto Rico Seismic Research Unit instruments located the epicenter of the earthquake at 18.68-north latitude and 65.05-west longitude, or 39km north-northwest of Charlotte Amalie St. Thomas. The dept of the earthquake was 51.5 kilometers.

The maximum intensity was recorded as III on the Modified Mercalli Scale in St. Thomas.

At the time of generating this news release no damage has been reported.

FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Natasha Lettsome,
Information Training Manager
Department for Disaster Management
Tortola, BVI
Tel: (284) 494-4499
E-Mail:  nlettsome@gov.vg