A 5.3 quake shakes the Dominican Capital

A tremor magnitude 5.3 on the Richter Scale was felt in the Dominican capital at 1:20 p.m. Thursday, prompting the evacuation of the country’s tallest building in operation, Torre Acropolis.

The tremor’s epicenter was located in the eastern part of the country at a depth of 106 kilometers, said the U.S. Geodetic Survey, in zone 16 kilometers north-northeast of Consuelo township, San Pedro province, and 16 kilometers south of the city Hato Mayor.

As of 1:40 p.m. the authorities hadn’t reported any damages from the shaking that lasted around 15 seconds, with a fist wave followed by stronger shimmying.

The U.S. Geodetic Service’s complete data on the tremor:

Thursday, December 18, 2008 at 01:13:48 PM at epicenter

Location 18.626°N, 69.370°W

Depth 106.3 km (66.1 miles) set by location program

Region DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

Distances 10 km (6 miles) NW (315°) from Consuelo, San Pedro de Macorís, Dominican Republic
20 km (12 miles) NNW (341°) from San Pedro de Macorís, San Pedro de Macorís, Dominican Republic

20 km (12 miles) SW (216°) from Hato Mayor, Hato Mayor, Dominican Republic

63 km (39 miles) ENE (77°) from SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic

Location Uncertainty horizontal +/- 4.2 km (2.6 miles); depth fixed by location program
Parameters NST=181, Nph=181, Dmin=206 km, Rmss=0.78 sec, Gp= 40°,
M-type=regional moment magnitude (Mw), Version=6
Source USGS NEIC (WDCS-D)