A powerful 6.8-magnitude earthquake struck southern Cuba yesterday morning (local time) without causing casualties, while the island is still recovering from the impact of Hurricane Rafael, which recently led to a two-day nationwide power outage.
The 6.8-magnitude quake, with a focal depth of 23.5 kilometres, was centred in a sea area 40 kilometres off the coast of Bartolome Maso, in the province of Granma (southeast), and occurred at 11:49 a.m. (local time; 7:49 p.m. Cyprus time), according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).
Approximately an hour earlier, the same area experienced a 5.9-magnitude earthquake, according to the same source. The tremors were most strongly felt around 800 kilometres from the capital, Havana.
The seismic shocks were felt across all eastern provinces and some central ones, according to official media. No casualties have been reported so far, authorities confirmed.
“We contacted the first secretaries of the (Communist) party in Santiago de Cuba and Granma, the provinces affected by the recent quakes. We experienced landslides, damage to homes, and power lines,” Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel reported via X (formerly Twitter).
In Canei de las Mercedes, a small village in the Bartolome Maso municipality, Karen Rodriguez described the quake as “very noticeable,” adding that “about half an hour after the first shock, we were returning to our homes when the second one hit, and it was even stronger.”
In the village, “there are houses with cracked walls, others where walls collapsed, and some with fallen roofs,” the 28-year-old hairdresser told AFP over the phone.
In Bayamo, the capital of Granma province, home to 140,000 residents and located about 50 kilometres from Bartolome Maso, locals also felt the two tremors.
“Electricity poles shook, streets and homes for about twenty seconds (…) Then we had another one, which was also very strong. People were terrified, everyone ran out of their homes,” said Livan Chavez, a 24-year-old welder.
Dalia Rodriguez, a homemaker, said that a wall in her house collapsed. “This was all we needed!” she said.
Cuba is still trying to recover from Hurricane Rafael, a Category 3 storm that hit the western part of the island last Wednesday, causing a widespread blackout that lasted two days. The gradual restoration of power was ongoing yesterday in the hardest-hit areas, especially in Havana.
Around 85% of households in the capital now have power restored, according to authorities, but in two western provinces—Artemisa, which was hardest hit by the hurricane, and Pinar del Rio—power has not yet been fully restored.
Three weeks earlier, a previous blackout left more than 10 million residents without power for four days, while another hurricane, Oscar, a Category 1 storm, struck the eastern tip of Cuba, resulting in eight deaths.
Earthquakes are generally frequent in eastern Cuba, as the tectonic plates of North America and the Caribbean intersect underground.
Last month, a 5.1-magnitude earthquake was recorded in Santiago de Cuba, with no reported damage.
In late January 2020, a 7.7-magnitude earthquake shook the Caribbean, occurring in the sea between Cuba and Jamaica. It was felt in multiple Cuban provinces but caused no casualties, although it prompted authorities to proceed with the emergency evacuation of residents in parts of Havana.
Source: AMNA-AFP-Reuters
