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POINTE BLANCHE–“Well, it’s 2020 after all” was one of a series of rapid comments on social media after a second very strong and noisy earthquake shook island residents from bed around 12:14am today, Friday. No injuries or extensive damage from the earthquake was recorded at press time.

  The earthquake with magnitude of 5.3 on the Richter Scale was registered 62 kilometres north-northeast of Nicola Town, St. Kitts and Nevis.

  The midnight quake followed one that occurred around 2:30pm Thursday. That one had a magnitude of 5.0 on the Richter Scale and occurred 61km east-northeast of St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands.

  Tectonic plate movements have caused large-magnitude earthquakes and devastating tsunamis. Earthquakes and tsunamis in Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and adjacent islands are mostly caused by the convergence of the North American tectonic plate with the Caribbean tectonic plate on which the islands are located, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS).