1692 Jamaica earthquake
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| Date | June 7, 1692 |
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| Origin time | 11:43 |
| Magnitude | 7.5 Mw |
| Depth | 10 km |
| Epicenter | 18°00′N 76°30′W / 18.00°N 76.5°WCoordinates: 18°00′N 76°30′W / 18.00°N 76.5°W |
| Areas affected | Jamaica |
| Tsunami | Yes |
| Casualties | +/- 5,000 |
The 1692 Jamaica earthquake struck Port Royal, Jamaica on June 7. A stopped pocket watch found in the harbor in 1969 indicated that it occurred around 11:43 a.m. Port Royal was, at the time, the unofficial capital of Jamaica, and one of the busiest and wealthiest ports in the West Indies. It was known both as the "storehouse and treasury of the West Indies" and "one of the wickedest places on earth", being a common home port for the many privateers and pirates operating within the Caribbean Sea. The earthquake caused most of the city to sink below sea level and about 2,000 people died as a result of the earthquake and the following tsunami. About 3,000 people died in the days following the earthquakes due to injuries and disease.
The island of Jamaica lies on the boundary between the Caribbean Plate and the Gonâve Microplate. The Gonâve microplate is a 1,100 km (680 mi) long strip of mainly oceanic crust formed by the Cayman spreading ridge within a strike-slip pull-apart basin on the northern transform margin of the Caribbean Plate with the North American Plate. Jamaica was formed by uplift associated with a restraining bend along this strike-slip structure. The focal mechanisms of earthquakes around Jamaica are primarily sinistral strike-slip along WSW-ENE trending faults and minor reverse or thrust motion on NW-SE trending faults. The 1692 event is thought to have occurred on one of these strike-slip faults.
Two-thirds of the town, amounting to 33 acres (13 ha), sank into the sea immediately after the main shock. According to Robert Renny in his 'An History of Jamaica' (1807): "All the wharves sunk at once, and in the space of two minutes, nine-tenths of the city were covered with water, which was raised to such a height, that it entered the uppermost rooms of the few houses which were left standing. The tops of the highest houses were visible in the water and surrounded by the masts of vessels, which had been sunk along with them."
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