EARTHQUAKE KILLS AT LEAST 1 IN EASTERN CARIBBEAN

[tropicana]

Earthquake kills at least one in Caribbean

November 21 2004, 3:42 PM EST

ROSEAU, Dominica -- A strong, early morning earthquake rocked the Caribbean islands of Dominica and Guadeloupe on Sunday, killing at least one person and destroying numerous homes.

A child was crushed to death in Guadeloupe when a wall collapsed at his home in the southern coastal town of Trois-Rivieres, officials in the French overseas department said. The boy's age was not known and his mother and sister were injured.
Several houses were destroyed and others were damaged in Trois-Rivieres, Radio Caraibes reported.

Separately, a man was hospitalized when he jumped from an upper floor in his home in the southeastern coastal town of Capesterre-Belle-Eau, French regional officials said, speaking on customary condition of anonymity. Authorities initially reported that he had died.

The temblor had a preliminary magnitude of 6.0, said John Minsch, a seismologist at the U.S. National Earthquake Information Service. The initial quake was followed by several tremors, including two with a 4.9 magnitude. Its epicenter was about 45 kilometers (28 miles) north-northwest of Dominica, near the Guadeloupe archipelago of Les Saintes.

At least eight homes were destroyed and 25 others were damaged in Terre-de-Bas, one of the islands in the chain, which is some 20 kilometers (12.5 miles) off Guadeloupe's southern coast, Radio Caraibes reported.

In Dominica, several homes and buildings were damaged in the northern part of the former British colony, including three churches, national disaster coordinator Cecil Shillingford said. No injuries were reported in the country, he said.

The northern half of the island of 70,000 residents was without electricity because the earthquake damaged a power transformer, authorities said. School officials canceled classes for Monday so engineers can determine whether the buildings suffered any structural damage.

Flooding and landslides caused by heavy rains have complicated the damage assessment, Shillingford said. Many roads have been blocked by the landslides. Dominica's main airport was temporarily closed because part of the runway flooded, authorities said.

The facade of a Roman Catholic church collapsed in Portsmouth, 26 miles (40 kilometers) north of the capital, Roseau, said Ian Douglas, a parliamentary representative from the area.

There was nobody in the church at the time. Sunday services were previously canceled because Catholics in Dominica were celebrating a special feast in the southern part of the country.

Portsmouth's hospital also suffered damage and patients were evacuated to a nearby building, Douglas told state-run Dominica Broadcasting Corp.

The earthquake lasted several seconds and was felt as far away as Antigua and Barbuda, some 200 kilometers (125 miles) north of the epicenter. No damage was reported there.

-justin-