by Tina Mata’afa-Tufele Elise
Three earthquakes have been felt during the month of July with two occurring on the same day but the tremors we hear about are a just a tiny fraction of the actual amount recorded each month.
Fuimaono Lameko Talia, Acting A.C.E.O. for the Samoa Meteorological Service, says the actual number of earthquakes documented each month is 200.
“Most of the earthquakes that occur, we don’t feel them but they are happening,” Fuimaono told Newsline Samoa.
“We have four to five felt earthquakes per month but we are actually having an average of 200 per month.”
The Samoa region is a “very active area” he said.
“It’s about 200 a month and only a small portion of the earthquakes we feel but we are detecting like 180 to 200 earthquakes on average a month so it’s a very active area as far as earthquakes are concerned,” Fuimaono said.
The most recent felt earthquake occurred in the Samoa region on Wednesday, 13 July, 2022 at 11:36 p.m., according to a felt earthquake bulletin.
The tremor registered a 4.6 magnitude on the Richter Scale and occurred 187.56 kilometres southwest of Apia at a depth of 10 km.
Just a day before on 12 July, two felt earthquake bulletins were issued by the Met Service.
The first quake occurred at 11:23 a.m., 157.89 km southwest of Apia at a depth of 10 km. It registered 5.0 on the Richter Scale.
About two hours later at 1:35 p.m. a second tremor struck at a depth of 10 km, at a distance of 172.57 km southwest of Apia. It also registered a magnitude of 5.0.
Fuimaono says they are on the lookout for quakes that register a magnitude of 6.0 and up.
“What we are looking out for are the ones that are 6 magnitude and above because those are the dangerous guys that will cause panic and shaking in the high rise buildings in the town area,” he said.
The recent ocean events occurring in Samoa and American Samoa are unrelated to the July quakes, Fuimaono noted.
None of the July earthquakes triggered a tsunami.