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Strong Earthquake Rocks Cuba

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – Cuba was rocked by a 6.8 magnitude earthquake at 11.49 am on Sunday (November 1), causing further damage to power lines and buildings in the island country that is still reeling from the effects two recent hurricanes, Reuters reports.

While shockwaves did reach southern Florida, the earthquake did not produce a significant tsunami threat, the US National Tsunami Warning Center said.

According to the US Geological Survey, the quake was at a depth of 14 km (8.7 miles). Cuban capital Havana was not affected, but homes and buildings in Santiago de Cuba, the island’s second-largest city, and the surrounding area were violently shaken, Reuters reports. Many Cuban buildings are old and susceptible to structural damage.

Cuba officials reported 15 perceptible aftershocks. A second earthquake of 5.9 magnitude followed the first about an hour later, Reuters reports.

“There have been landslides, damage to homes and power lines,” Cuban president Miguel Diaz-Canel said in a statement on X. “We have begun to assess damages…the first and essential thing is to save lives.”

“We’ve felt earthquakes in the past, but nothing like this,” Santiago resident Griselda Fernandez told Reuters.

In a statement on Facebook, Enrique Diego Arango Arias, head of the National Seismological Service of Cuba said: “The situation is quite complicated.”