Seismicity and earthquake hazard in Trinidad and Tobago,West Indies

The two-island Republic of Trinidad and Tobago in the eastern Caribbean has enjoyed increased physical and industrial development in recent years; however, these islands have been subjected to damaging earthquakes during their history and an up-to-date risk assessment is needed. We examine two approaches to quantifying this problem: (a) the risk estimated probabilistically using recent instrumental data and (b) the hazard inferred from regional tectonic movements. The probabilistic approach indicates that peak ground accelerations with a probability of exceedance of 10 per cent in 50 years could range from 0–23g in Tobago to 0–36g in North-West Trinidad. Tectonic considerations suggest that a maximum-moment earthquake occurring directly under either land mass could generate accelerations as high as 0–6g; the probability of occurrence of such an event is estimated to be about 2 per cent in 50 years for Trinidad and about a tenth this risk for Tobago. This level of hazard would be significant for critical facilities such as LNG plants.