Two powerful earthquakes shook southern Cuba this Sunday in quick succession, reported U.S. geologists, while Cuban authorities said no tsunami warning was issued, and no immediate deaths were reported. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) estimated the second tremor at a magnitude of 6.8.
The earthquake occurred at a depth of 23.5 kilometers, about 40 kilometers off the coast of Bartolomé Masó, in the southern province of Granma, and just an hour after a first tremor, which the USGS estimated at a magnitude of 5.9, at a depth of 14.2 kilometers in the ocean and about 175 kilometers from Santiago de Cuba, the country’s second-largest city.
The state newspaper Granma reported that no deaths were immediately reported, but that the earthquake was felt throughout the Caribbean Island nation. “Here people quickly went out to the street because the ground was shaking very hard,” said Andrés Pérez, a 65-year-old retiree who lives in central Santiago de Cuba, referring to the first earthquake.
“I felt it very strongly, really, and my wife is a bundle of nerves,” he added. The U.S. Tsunami Warning System said no tsunami alert had been issued. The tremor comes as Cuba is still recovering from Hurricane Rafael, which struck the western part of the country as a category 3 storm, leaving residents without electricity for two days. A 5.1-magnitude earthquake was recorded last October in Santiago de Cuba, without causing damage.
Another strong earthquake of magnitude 7.7 was recorded in January 2020 in the Caribbean Sea and was felt in several Cuban provinces, prompting the evacuation of buildings in the capital, Havana, though no damage was reported.
