South America the Atlantic Ocean; North America and the Caribbean Sea lie to the northwest. It includes twelve sovereign states (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, and Venezuela), a part of France (French Guiana), and a non-sovereign area (the Falkland Islands, a British Overseas Territory though this is disputed by Argentina). In addition to this, the ABC islands of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Trinidad and Tobago, and Panama may also be considered part of South America. South America has an area of 17,840,000 square kilometers (6,890,000 sq mi). Its population has been estimated at more than
2007 Martinique earthquake America such as in Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana. In Caracas, Venezuela, some people evacuated office buildings. The intensity reached VI to VII on the EMS98 scale in Martinique and Dominica. In the surrounding region, the South American Plate is subducting beneath the Caribbean Plate. This earthquake occurred within the South America Plate and was in response to stresses generated by the slow distortion of the plate. 2007 Martinique earthquake The 2007 Martinique earthquake took place on November 29 at in the Windward Islands region, underneath the Martinique Passage. It was a magnitude 7.4 earthquake which occurred from Fort-de-France,