Earthquake - Jean-Yves Stephan: 'The Earth Shook in Rodrigues'

"The chairs, dishes, and furniture shook for about nine seconds," recounts Jean-Yves Stephan after the earthquake recorded 77 km northeast of Rodrigues on Tuesday, January 6. "This is the first time I’ve experienced something like this on the island," he confides.

The tremor was felt at around 2:09 PM. At the time, Jean-Yves Stephan, a resident of Petit-Gabriel, was in his kitchen. "Suddenly, I felt the earth shaking," he says, still astonished. According to him, areas like Port-Mathurin, Terre-Rouge, and Latanier were particularly shaken.

He notes that there was no evacuation in Petit-Gabriel, but he heard that residents of Port-Mathurin may have been evacuated.

An earthquake with a magnitude of 5.4 was recorded approximately 77 km northeast of Rodrigues at coordinates 19.2° S and 63.9° E. According to the Vacoas meteorological station, the depth of the tremor is estimated to be 10 km. The weather service indicates it is closely monitoring the situation.