Dominican Republic

While considered moderate for seismic activity, the Dominican Republic does not have any significant volcanic hazards. The Dominican Republic is known to have 0 Holocene volcanoes which are volcanoes that have been active in the last 11,700 years. On the other hand, the Dominican Republic does have 3 Pleistocene volcanoes which are volcanoes that were once active in the Pleistocene Epoch or between 25 million and 11,700 years ago. These volcanoes include Dos Hermanos, San Juan, and Valle Nuevo.  It is significant to note that the Dominican Republic is located not too far east of the Pacific Ring of Fire. According to National Geographic, The Pacific Ring of Fire accounts for about 90% of all earthquakes and 75% of active volcanos found on Earth. This occurs because of the interactions between the Pacific plate and the less-dense surrounding plates. The Dominican Republic is found between the "R" and the "E" on the middle-right side of the map below.  Although quite ...

  Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic According to the U.S. Embassy, seismicity of the Dominican Republic is considered moderate. The country has experienced approximately 1 earthquake per year and most recently experienced a magnitude 5.3 earthquake on February 1, 2023.  Following the earthquake on February 1st, the Emergency Operations Center (COE) activated a contingency plan.        The image above from the  World Bank Group  is a representation of earthquake risk. The scale ranges from a lighter green representing lower annual average losses (AAL) to a darker green representing a higher ratio of AAL. A factor of a higher AAL estimate is the proportion of vulnerable structures.  The image above from USGS is an interactive map showing the locations of the most recent earthquake impacting the Dominican Republic. The blue circle represents the magnitude 3.4 earthquake that occurred on February 7, 2023.  The United States Embassy in the Do...

Plate Tectonics Tectonic plates are large yet varying in size, solid rock made of the Earth's oceanic and continental lithosphere. The image above provided by  The National Parks Service  shows Earth's plates including the kind of boundary they have and their name. Movement of tectonic plates directly leads to natural hazards such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. The size, frequency and magnitude of these events greatly depends on the type of plate boundary and location.  For instance, the Dominican Republic is located on the  Caribbean Tectonic Plate . The Caribbean plate is mostly an oceanic plate and is known to be moving eastward 22 mm/year.  Below is a chart of all the neighboring plates and their interaction with the Caribbean Plate:  The Dominican Republic has experienced 4 earthquakes so far in 2023, ranging from a magnitude of 2.7 on January 27th to a 5.0 on February 1st.   Resources: https://www.unavco.org/science/snapshots/solid-e...