On Thursday morning at 2:24 a major earthquake rolled through Roatan Honduras and surrounding countries for approximately 20 seconds. The magnitude and duration of the Roatan earthquake surpasses the October 1989 earthquake in northern California which I also experienced. The big difference, the damage that occurred during the quake. As you probably remember in northern California there were over pass collapses, bridge failures, buildings crumbling and numerous fatalities. Here in Roatan there were no fatalities, no building collapses and almost no damage.
I talked with several people on Thursday, the day after the quake, and the worst damage anyone had heard of was some water tanks that had shifted resulting in some broken pipes. Earthquake straps on water heaters are not required here, perhaps they should be.
Even though things were a bit disorganized, we had our previously planned Realtors tour Thursday morning during which we viewed 15 homes that are on the market. None of them had any damage not even a broken glass! At my house there were a couple of picture frames and some bottles of salsa that broke as they fell off their perches, but otherwise no damage.
I think the lack of damage to homes here is a testament to the quality of construction that has been achieved. I spoke with a representative of Parrot Tree Plantation to get an update on damage there and he reported, no damage at all. The same is true for the Mayan Princess on West Bay beach. It is no coincidence that the architects that designed Parrot Tree Plantation and the Mayan Princess Beach Resort used the California earthquake standards as their design standard and it certainly paid off.
If you have plans to visit Roatan and are interested in property we will be announcing our new “Buyers Stay Free” program next month. Check our web site regularly for the details.
Enjoy Life, Philip