The earthquake of magnitude 6.1 on the Richter scale that shook the southeastern region of Cuba this Monday left more than 90 homes and four state buildings, with no human losses reported so far, according to local television.
The National Center for Seismological Research of Cuba (Cenais) reported that since 01:00 in the morning (local time) – when the telluric movement occurred – there have been recorded about 300 replicasthree of them perceptible and of magnitude between 3 and 4 degrees.
This earthquake, the 137th perceptible number of 2024, was located at a depth of 9 kilometers, with the epicenter 35 kilometers southwest of the town of Chivirico, in the province of Santiago de Cuba, in the southeast of the island.
Cenais pointed out that was felt throughout the eastern region of the country to the provinces of Ciego de Ávila and Camagüey (center-east).
The head of the National Seismological Service, Enrique Diego Arango, explained to television that this earthquake is not a replica of those recorded last November with an epicenter south of the municipality of Pilón, in the neighboring province of Granma, although it has occurred on the same fault. , that of the East.
Besides considered it “normal” that aftershocks continue to be reported after the main earthquake and that these shocks can be perceived by the population.
A previous earthquake
As a more recent precedent, on December 3, an earthquake of magnitude 4.1 was felt in towns in the provinces of Santiago de Cuba and Granma.
Previously, The eastern region of Cuba had been hit by two earthquakes of 6 and 6.7both recorded on November 10.
These two earthquakes left 10 people injured and more than 8,600 homes damaged, 156 of them with total collapses and almost 6,000 with minor damage.
Cuba registered a total of 7,475 earthquakes in 2023, of which 14 were perceptible, according to the Cenais annual summary. The magnitudes ranged from less than 3 to 5.9.
The East geological faultthe main area of seismic activity in Cuba, marked the highest number of earthquakes in the Caribbean country in the past year.
About 70% of ground tremors are reported on this Oriente fault, located along the southeast coast of the island. In 2018, there were 15 perceptible movements in that area alone.
Cuba is located in a region – spanning from the Dominican Republic to Mexico – in which different tectonic fault systems converge with significant seismic activity.
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