Magnitude 7.3 earthquake rocks several Caribbean countries, Venezuela – felt as far as Colombia

A strong earthquake rocked several Caribbean countries yesterday evening, sending people scampering into the streets as buildings swayed, and walls collapsed damaging several vehicles.

The Seismic Research Center at the University of the West Indies (UWI) St. Augustine campus in Trinidad & Tobago measured the quake at 6.8, but the United States Geological Survey (USGS) put it at 7.3 and said it had a depth of 123 kilometers (76 miles). Its epicenter was 20 kilometers (12 miles) off the sparsely populated Cariaco peninsula that has seen several devastating quakes in the past.

The earthquake, which occurred around 5:31 pm EDT, was centered near the Venezuelan town of Guiria, and was felt in the capital, Caracas, and beyond Venezuela’s shores.

It also shook several Caribbean countries, including Barbados, Grenada, Guyana, St Vincent & the Grenadines and Trinidad & Tobago.

In Trinidad & Tobago, Joan Latchman, a seismologist with The UWI Seismic Research Center, said it was the strongest earthquake felt in the twin-island republic since December 2016.

She said there were 7 aftershocks within an hour of the earthquake, and that more were expected.

Communications and National Security Minister Stuart Young, in an address to the nation, said that there was no need to panic. He said the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Management had been in contact with the Tsunami Center in the Pacific and a tsunami watch and warning had been called off. He said while some areas of the country had been without electricity as a result of the earthquake, the Trinidad & Tobago Electricity Company was already in the field seeking to restore the service.

“We are happy to report at this stage there are no reports of anyone being severely injured. We have also been in contact with the various hospitals, health centers. Everything appears to be intact and we have no reports of any serious infrastructural damage,” Young said.

In Grenada, the National Disaster Management Agency (NaDMA) said that the country and its dependencies were not under any tsunami watch or warning.

“The motoring public and homeowners are advised to exercise caution as the shaking could have destabilized rocks and/or boulders around your home or along roadways. Vigilance is therefore encouraged by all,” the NaDMA said, adding that it had not received any information of damage caused by the earthquake, which it said “was the strongest felt on island”.

In Venezuela, a witness in Cumana, the biggest city near the epicenter, said there were initial reports of several injuries at a shopping center where an escalator fell, but there were no other immediate signs of damage in the vicinity.

The earthquake was felt as far away as Colombia’s capital of Bogota, where authorities briefly closed the international airport to inspect for runway damage. -(CMC)