Earthquakes shake Cuba as residents struggle to recover from recent hurricanes | Earthquake News

Officials say damage assessment efforts are underway after a 6.8-magnitude earthquake hit eastern Cuba.

A powerful earthquake has struck eastern Cuba, adding to the woes of a country still reeling from a series of recent hurricanes and power outages.

The United States Geological Survey (USGS) reported on Sunday that a 6.8 magnitude earthquake struck about 40km (25 miles) south of the town of Bartolome Maso. No casualties or injuries have been reported so far.

“There were landslides, damage to houses and power lines,” Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said in a communique, adding that the areas of Santiago de Cuba and Granma were affected.

“We have started to assess the damage to start recovery. The first and most important thing is to save people's lives,” he said.

People in the affected states said the earthquake was one of the most powerful they've felt in their lives — no small feat in an area the USGS says has experienced 23 earthquakes of 5 or more in the past 50 years.

“We have heard earthquakes in the past, but nothing like this,” Santiago resident Griselda Fernandez told Reuters news agency.

Some residents of Santiago, Cuba's second largest city, reported that the earthquake had caused buildings to shake and many people were still standing in fear in their doorways.

“You had to see how everything was moving, the walls, everything,” Yolanda Tabio, a 76-year-old resident of the city, told the Associated Press.

Most of the houses and buildings in this region are old and vulnerable to earthquake damage.

State-run media published pictures of terracotta roofs and concrete facades of houses that collapsed in the quake. Many photos showed damage to roofs, walls, window columns and public infrastructure.

The USGS said nearby countries like Jamaica also had some effects.

The earthquake is the latest in a series of natural disasters that have compounded Cuba's existing infrastructure problems, where large numbers of people also face economic insecurity.

In October, Hurricane Oscar brought torrential rains and widespread power outages to the island and left at least six people dead after it made landfall in eastern Cuba.

Another storm, Hurricane Rafael, knocked out power to at least 10 million people after it hit the eastern half of the island last week.

The storm uprooted trees and knocked down telephone poles. Hundreds of buildings were destroyed and hundreds of thousands of people were left homeless.