ANSA/Cuba: After the earthquakes, more electrical problems in Cuba

(ANSA) – HAVANA, NOV 11 – The Cuban government is busy counting the damage caused by the two earthquakes – magnitude 6 and 6.7 – that shook the island yesterday afternoon and unleashed more problems in the supply of electricity. electricity, a service already devastated by the passage of Hurricane Rafael last week. After an emergency meeting with the national defense council, no victims have been reported so far. The 6.7 magnitude earthquake on the Richter scale was one of the most powerful recorded in the history of the island, after the 7.1 magnitude in 2020 and the 6.9 in 1932, all in the province of Granma. Most of the seismic activity in Cuba takes place in the Santiago region. A geological fault runs along the southeast coast of the island, marking the boundary between the North American plate and the Caribbean plate, according to Cuba’s seismic service. The Cuban capital, Havana, was not affected by the earthquake. 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 on the Richter scale. The Oriente geological fault, the main area of ​​seismic activity in Cuba, marked the highest number of earthquakes in the Caribbean country in the past year. About 70% of the telluric movements are reported in this Oriente fault, located along the southeast coast of the island. In 2018, there were 15 perceptible movements in that area alone. “There have been landslides, damage to homes and power lines,” said Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel, on the social network lives,” he noted. Many of the houses and buildings in the region impacted by the earthquake are old and vulnerable to earthquakes. State media published images of terracotta roofs and concrete block house facades that had collapsed in the shock. Many images showed structural damage to ceilings, walls and columns, as well as public infrastructure. Much of the eastern tip of Cuba is trying to recover from the direct impact of Hurricane Oscar in October. Last week, Cuba’s national electricity grid collapsed after Hurricane Rafael hit the western end of the island, leaving 10 million people without power. Hour-long blackouts have been the norm for months in most of eastern Cuba, slowing reports of damage and complicating communications. The consequences of these cuts of several days are impossible to list: from the paralysis of the productive fabric to the loss of refrigerated food in stores and homes, from the queues at service centers (gas stations) to the suspension of the water supply, including the paralysis of schools and the effects on hospitals, transportation and the precious tourism sector. However, the drama that Cubans are experiencing is not new. The country has been plunged into a serious crisis for four years. Added to the prolonged daily blackouts is the shortage of basic goods (food, medicine, fuel), inflation that has tripled prices, growing dollarization and an unprecedented wave of migration. (ANSA).