World Courant
Officers say efforts to evaluate harm are underway after a magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck jap Cuba.
A strong earthquake has struck jap Cuba, leaving the nation nonetheless reeling from a collection of latest storms and energy outages.
The US Geological Survey (USGS) reported Sunday {that a} magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck about 25 miles (40 kilometers) south of the town of Bartolome Maso. No deaths or accidents have been reported up to now.
“There have been landslides, harm to homes and energy traces,” Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel mentioned in a social media publish, including that the areas of Santiago de Cuba and Granma had been affected.
“We’re beginning to assess the harm so we will start restoration. The primary and most essential factor is saving lives,” he mentioned.
Individuals within the affected counties have mentioned the earthquake was one of the highly effective they’ve felt of their lives — no small feat in an space that has skilled 23 earthquakes of magnitude 5 and better prior to now 50 years, in accordance with the USGS.
“We have now felt earthquakes prior to now, however nothing like this,” Santiago resident Griselda Fernandez advised Reuters.
Different residents of Santiago, Cuba’s second-largest metropolis, reported that the earthquake triggered buildings to shake and many individuals nonetheless stood nervously in doorways.
“You needed to see how all the things moved, the partitions, all the things,” Yolanda Tabio, a 76-year-old within the metropolis, advised The Related Press.
Many houses and buildings within the area are older and susceptible to earthquake harm.
State media printed photographs of terracotta roofs and facades of concrete block homes that collapsed within the earthquake. Many photographs confirmed structural harm to ceilings, partitions, window columns and public infrastructure.
The USGS mentioned close by nations equivalent to Jamaica additionally skilled some impacts.
The quake is the newest in a collection of pure disasters which have exacerbated present infrastructure issues in Cuba, the place giant components of the inhabitants additionally face financial uncertainty.
In October, Hurricane Oscar introduced heavy rains and widespread energy outages to the island, killing not less than six folks after making landfall in jap Cuba.
One other storm, Hurricane Rafael, knocked out energy to not less than 10 million folks after slamming into the jap a part of the island final week.
The storm uprooted bushes and toppled phone poles. A whole bunch of buildings had been destroyed and tons of of 1000’s of individuals had been displaced.
Earthquake rocks Cuba as residents wrestle to get better from latest storms | Earthquake information
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