Discus thrower Dacres says he felt Chile quake
SANTIAGO, Chile – Although Jamaica’s athletes here at the Pan American Games may have escaped the 5.4-magnitude quake that occurred in Jamaica on Monday, they had a similar experience on Tuesday.
The National Seismological Center (CSN) of the University of Chile reported a 6.6-magnitude quake in the north-central area of the country around 9:33 am on Tuesday, which was also felt at the Athletes Village in the district of Cerrillos.
While there was damage to a number of buildings and property in Jamaica, the effects of the earthquake in Chile were different. Some citizens say they felt the tremor while others did not.
Discus thrower Fedrick Dacres also felt the quake.
“I felt the shaking and sat right up,” Dacres told the Jamaica Observer.
Dacres said, similar to the rest of Santiago, everything was fine in the village and no one was affected.
But reflecting on Jamaica’s quake on Monday, Dacres said he spoke to his family and they are fine but he was concerned when he first heard news of the incident.
“They said they were good like gold,” he said. “My mom and my sis were joking about it.
“I was worried for my sis because she’s in a multi-storey building but I knew my mom was okay. My sis had some damage at her place but she’s cool; it’s just that the power went out.”
Chile experiences frequent earthquakes, many of strong magnitude. This is because the country sits on the South American plate and is bordered on the west by the Nazca plate, which is subducting beneath the Chilean coastline.