Aug. 20, 2003 — An earthquake that registered 3.9 on the Richter Scale shook Virgin Islands residents at 2:22 p.m. Wednesday.
"There was no damage reported," said Harold Irizzary, a data analyst at the Puerto Rico Seismic Network in Mayaguez.
He said the quake was centered at 18.56 degrees north latitude and 64.58 degrees west longitude, which put it nine miles north of Tortola in the British Virgin Islands. It was located 78 feet under the earth's floor.
Small quakes such as this are common across the territory. On Aug. 16, instruments recorded a 3.4 earthquake in the same vicinity. So far this month, a total of nine earthquakes ranging from 3.4 to 3.9 have been recorded in the area.
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