Quakes lift T&T coastline by nearly 20 feet

A portion of Trinidad’s south-western coast was thrust nearly 20 feet upwards in the aftermath of the devastating twin earthquakes that rocked Venezuela last week, unsettling the Galfa coastline and trapping hundreds of sea animals among the rubble in a matter of seconds.By yesterday afternoon Venezuela had reported more than 400 aftershocks that followed 7.2—and 7.5-magnitude quakes that have killed at least 1,400 along its northern coast line thus far. Miles away in Cedros, residents first discovered the raised seabed along an isolated strip of the Galfa coast on the morning after the quakes.

When the Express visited the area yesterday afternoon, parts of earth had been pushed upward by multiple feet, lifting a shoreline littered with hundreds of dead or dying fish, crabs, clams and even a stingray. Small pools of bubbling water had settled along parts of the beachside, some emitting an unidentified substance.Speaking to the Sunday Express yesterday, Geologist Xavier Moonan said the phenomenon was likely the result of a reactivated slump, caused by the saturated soil and rocks. The slump, a type of landslide that moves rock masses downhill, was likely triggered by the recent physical shifting and shaking as a result of the earthquakes, he said.

“When it slumped downward, it lifted the coast, part of the beach and the seabed. It lifted it up out of the water. It happened so quickly that it caught fish, crabs and stingrays off guard and they were left out of the water, where they eventually died. Boulders rolled and crushed the stingrays. So it happened so quickly, they could not get out of the way. It happened in a matter of seconds. When the area was scooped up in the area, the animals were scooped up as well. The beach was lifted up because the hillside was tilted down,” he explained.