Cuba: 4.9 Quake Felt in Havana
HAVANA TIMES — The Cuban media reports that a 4.9 earthquake off the north central coast of the island was felt as far away as the capital. No injuries or damage has thus far been reported, notes Cubadebate.cu.
The quake was felt as far away as Key West, Florida and was initially reported there as being a 5.1 tremor.
The tremor occurred at 3:57 p.m. local time on Thursday with the center located 73.7 kilometers (46 miles) northeast of Varadero. The quake took place at a depth of 20 kilometers (12 miles).
The earthquake took place in a zone that normally has little seismic activity, noted Grisel Morjón of the National Center for Seismological Research based in Santiago de Cuba.
On December 21st a 4.3 Richter scale quake was registered 20.7 kilometers southeast of Pilon, Granma in southeastern Cuba at a depth of 10 kilometers (6.25 miles).
The eastern region of the island is accustomed to reporting the majority of the 20-50 medium or moderate intensity tremors felt in Cuba each year, noted Cubadebate.
I am pleasantly surprised with your comment, you must know the real Cuba. There are so many people who believe Cuba as being a paradise. the island is beautiful and it’s natural beauty cannot be taken away, but living there must be hell. I hope that big quake never comes.
Probably. There is a minor fault zone running through Matanzas. However, the really big fault runs east west just south or Guantanamo extending almost as far as Central America, forming the Cayman Trough. A major earth quake along that fault could be devastating, as the recent quake in Haiti showed.
In San Francisco, 4.9 temblors are a monthly occurrence. However, in Havana, where a few days of steady rain can trigger the collapse of hundreds of their decrepit and dilapidated buildings, an earthquake of any reasonable magnitude can be catastrophic. The most vulnerable buildings are in the worst neighborhoods where the residents are the poorest. While the Castros were off spending hundreds of millions in rubles in Soviet aid on foreign missions to foment socialist revolutions, they should have been maintaining their residential infrastructure. Let’s hope this small earthquake is not a preview of a larger one to come.
“The earthquake took place in a zone that normally has little seismic activity.” Just onshore in this area, however, (along the border between Matanzas and Villa Clara Provinces), there is significant thermal activity. It is the loction of a thermal spa. Any connection?