MIAMI, United States. – Earthquakes of magnitude 6 and 6.7 on the Richter scale, which shook eastern Cuba this Sundayleft at least 10 people injured and around 3,750 buildings with various damages, according to a new government report published this Tuesday and cited by the EFE agency.
The injuries were reported in the province of Granma, the most affected by the tremors, which were also felt in other eastern provinces and some central regions of the Island. In Granma, authorities reported 3,518 damaged homes, of which 54 were total collapses. . In addition, damage was recorded in 438 state entities, including 59 health institutions and 109 educational centers.
The municipality of Pilón, due to its proximity to the epicenter of both telluric events that occurred one hour apart, was the most affected town, according to the official report.
For its part, in Santiago de Cuba, 234 homes suffered damage, and damage to state institutions was also reported.
State television reported damage to electrical and telephone infrastructure, including downed cables, poles and transformers, leaving about 14,000 customers without power service in the area.
More than 48 hours after the earthquakes, the National Center for Seismological Research (CENAIS) reported a total of 1,943 aftershocks, of which only 70 were perceptible by the population as they exceeded a magnitude of 2.5.
Cuban specialists emphasize that Granma has historically experienced other similar or smaller magnitude events, including an earthquake of magnitude 6.9 on May 25, 1992 and another of 7.1 on January 28, 2021 that had its epicenter near the Islands. Caiman.
These telluric movements took place three weeks after Hurricane Oscar passed through the easternmost part of the Island, where eight deaths were reported due to the meteor, in addition to floods, losses in agriculture, house collapses and cut-off communities.
According to the annual summary of CENAIS, Cuba registered a total of 7,475 earthquakes in 2023, of which 14 were perceptible. The magnitudes ranged from less than 3 to 5.9 degrees on the Richter scale. The Oriente geological fault, the main area of seismic activity in the country, concentrated nearly 70% of the reported earthquakes.
