A 47-year-old Dominican died of a heart attack brought on by his reaction to a magnitude-5.3 earthquake that struck the Caribbean nation, the press said.

Maximo Ramirez Rodriguez suffered the fatal cardiac arrest while in front of the television in their bedroom, his wife, Maria Victoria Cuevas, said.

Ramirez lived in the Las Cañitas district on the north side of Santo Domingo, and was the father of four children.

His family said he had not been suffering from health problems.

The quake that shook several regions of the Dominican Republic occurred at 5:36 a.m. Thursday at a depth of 10 kilometers (6 miles) and had its epicenter at 50 kilometers (31 miles) from Santo Domingo, according to the U.S. Geological Service.