A strong earth-shake hit Cubaʼs eastern region today causing major problems in Santiago de Cuba (the countryʼs second-biggest city)
Miguel Diaz-Canel posted on X about land-slides and house damage: his team started checking the area right away. The quake struck near Bartolome Maso - a history-rich spot where Fidel Castro once had his base during the revolution
Weʼve felt earthquakes in the past but nothing like this
The main 6.8-magnitude shake (which went 8.7 miles deep) came after a 5.9 one; both hits made terra-cotta roofs fall and concrete walls crack. Local houses - many of them old-style buildings got damage to their:
- Walls and ceilings
- Windows and columns
- Support structures
- Outside walls
This natural disaster hits while east Cuba still deals with Hurricane Oscarʼs effects from 10/2024; plus Hurricane Rafael just broke the power grid last week leaving 10m people without power
The area sees most of Cubaʼs earth-moves because of a fault-line that marks where North American and Caribbean plates meet; experts say more after-shakes might come but dont expect any tsunami. The shake didnt affect Havana - the nations capital