Today Newspaper St. Maarten

St. Maarten – The island was plunged into widespread hysteria when news broke that a massive tsunami could be heading this way and also affect the wider region. It was all as a result of a Blackberry message that went viral midmorning yesterday based on an erroneous warning issued by the United States National Weather Service.
“Jamaica and the Caribbean are now under a tsunami watch as a result of 7.9 magnitude earthquake off the south coast of Costa Rica yesterday morning,” the message read.
People were urged to pass the message on for everyone’s information and safety.
However around noon, the Department of Communication issued a release on behalf of Disaster Coordinator Winston Salomon “that a tsunami watch issued for the entire Caribbean by the US National Weather Service Pacific Tsunami Warning Center has been cancelled.
An earthquake occurred off Costa Rica’s Pacific coast with a 7.6 magnitude on the Richter scale.
The tsunami watch was initially meant for the Pacific and was sent to the Caribbean by mistake. There is no tsunami watch for Sint Maarten,” Salomon said.

Tsunami warning false alarm by admin