A strong earthquake hit the west coast of Cuba, including the capital, on Monday. AFP journalists in Havana reported on the 20-second tremors that drove Cubans out of buildings and into the streets, writes TASR.
The United States Geological Survey (USGS) stated, that the earthquake at a depth of ten kilometers had a magnitude of 6.1 and the epicenter was approximately 100 kilometers from the western tip of the island. “At first I just felt dizzy. It didn’t occur to me that it could be an earthquake, I’ve never experienced it before,47-year-old economist Carmel Delgado told AFP.
Cuban authorities said tremors were felt “in all the west of the country” and according to AFP reporters even as far as the American state of Florida. According to the AP agency, information about possible injuries or material damage was not immediately known.
The Oriente fault zone is located just off the southeastern coast of Cuba and has caused devastating earthquakes in past centuries. These include the January 2020 magnitude 7.7 earthquake in open waters that caused damage in Cuba and the Cayman Islands.
