Natural disaster: two powerful earthquakes hit Cuba

A powerful 5.9 magnitude earthquake occurred Sunday off the southern coast of the island of Cuba, not far from the large city of Santiago de Cuba, according to the United States Institute of Geophysics (USGS) which did not did not trigger a tsunami warning.

The epicenter of the earthquake is located 14.2 kilometers under the ocean, about 35 kilometers from the coast of Bartolome Maso, in the province of Granma, and about 175 kilometers from Santiago de Cuba, the country’s second city. , according to the USGS.

The National Center for Seismological Investigations (Cenais) of Cuba and local authorities in Santiago de Cuba have confirmed a “5.4 earthquake on the Richter scale perceptible to the east of Cuba”, and “aftershocks are reported », According to the official Caribe television channel.

The tremor was felt in all the eastern provinces of the island, as well as in those of Camagüey and Ciego de Ávila (center), reported the official Cuban newspaper Granma, which does not report any casualties at this stage. .

“Here, people quickly took to the streets because the ground moved very hard,” Andres Perez, a 65-year-old retiree who lives in central Santiago de Cuba, told AFP by telephone.

A second, more powerful earthquake with a magnitude of 6.8

A second earthquake, more powerful than the first, shook the island of Cuba off the southern coast, near Santiago, according to the American Institute of Geophysics (USGS).

This tremor, with a magnitude of 6.8 and which occurred 23.5 kilometers under the ocean, comes barely a few hours after the first earthquake of magnitude 5.9 felt in several provinces of the country.

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