Enriquillo-Plantain Garden Fault
Hispaniola / Jamaica · continental transform · 3949.0 km of mapped active fault in 34 traces
background as of 7 November 2026.
consistent with baseline
| Window | the last 30.0 days |
|---|---|
| Earthquakes counted | 0 at M4.5 or above |
| Expected in that window | 0.27 |
What this system normally does
From 1995 to 2025 the catalogue holds 97 earthquakes of M4.5 or larger attributable to this system: about 3.23 a year. That figure is what "elevated" on this page is measured against.
The fault itself
| Mapped length | 3949.0 km |
|---|---|
| Traces | 34 |
| Tectonic setting | continental transform |
| Slip types | Reverse, Sinistral, Sinistral-Reverse |
| Depth attributed to it | down to 50.0 km |
| Extent | 17.67 to 19.05 latitude, -78.02 to -70.33 longitude |
Recorded history
NOAA's hazard records hold 8 significant earthquakes and 6 tsunamis attributed to this system since 1692.
The deadliest was the 12 January 2010 magnitude 7.0 earthquake (Haiti: Port-au-prince), which killed 316,000 people.
The strongest earthquake on record here was magnitude 7.5, on 3 June 1770 (Haiti: Port-au-prince).
The most recent entry is the 24 January 2022 magnitude 5.3 earthquake (Haiti: Nippes), which killed 2 people.
Across the entries that record a death toll, 321,458 people died.
| Date | What | Where | Toll |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12 January 2010 | magnitude 7.0 earthquake | Haiti: Port-au-prince | 316,000 dead, 97,294 homes destroyed, $8,000 million damage |
| 12 January 2010 | tsunami (waves to 3.2 m) | Haiti & Dominican Republic | 316,000 dead, 97,294 homes destroyed, $8,000 million damage |
| 7 June 1692 | tsunami (waves to 1.8 m) | Port Royal | 3,000 dead, damage $5 to 25 million |
| 14 August 2021 | magnitude 7.2 earthquake | Haiti | 2,248 dead, 53,815 homes destroyed, $1,600 million damage |
| 14 August 2021 | tsunami | Port-au-prince | 2,248 dead, 53,815 homes destroyed, $1,600 million damage |
| 3 June 1770 | magnitude 7.5 earthquake | Haiti: Port-au-prince | 200 dead, damage $5 to 25 million |
| 3 June 1770 | tsunami | Port-au-prince | 200 dead, damage $5 to 25 million |
| 28 October 1952 | magnitude 6.2 earthquake | Haiti: Anse-a-veau | 6 dead, $20 million damage |
| 25 January 1953 | magnitude 5.7 earthquake | Haiti | 2 dead, damage $1 to 5 million |
| 24 January 2022 | magnitude 5.3 earthquake | Haiti: Nippes | 2 dead, 190 homes destroyed, damage $5 to 25 million |
| 8 April 1860 | magnitude 7.5 earthquake | Haiti: Anse-a-veau | damage $1 to 5 million |
| 8 April 1860 | tsunami | Anse-a-veau | damage $1 to 5 million |
| 18 October 1751 | tsunami | Azua de Compostela | damage $1 to 5 million |
| 12 November 1988 | magnitude 4.7 earthquake | Jamaica: St Andrew, Jacks Hill | damage $1 to 5 million |
A dash means NOAA recorded no number, not that nobody died. Older entries are fewer because fewer were written down, not because less happened.
Recorded history: NOAA NCEI hazard databases, public domain, retrieved 2026-10-22.
Where these numbers come from
Fault geometry, length and segment counts: GEM Global Active Faults Database (GEM GAF-DB), GEM Foundation, https://github.com/GEMScienceTools/gem-global-active-faults Licence: CC-BY-SA-4.0. Figures derived from it here are offered under the same licence. Earthquake counts, magnitudes and depths: United States Geological Survey, public domain. The activity judgement is ours, computed from those two inputs, and is not a statement by either agency.