Southern Cuba was jolted by two strong earthquakes on Sunday, just days after Hurricane Rafael swept through, leaving the island with extensive power outages and infrastructure damage. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the second quake measured 6.8 in magnitude and struck 25 miles off the coast of Bartolome Maso in Granma province, following an earlier 5.9 tremor. Both quakes were shallow, increasing the intensity felt on the surface, and caused structural damage to homes and buildings, though no deaths have been reported.
Residents, already reeling from recent hurricanes and prolonged power cuts, rushed into the streets, shaken by the latest blow. "It’s the last thing we needed," Dalia Rodriguez, a resident of Bayamo, told AFP, describing damage to her home’s walls. In nearby Santiago de Cuba, retiree Andres Perez recounted, “People quickly took to the streets because the ground moved very strongly.” In Caney de las Mercedes, Karen Rodriguez reported houses with cracked walls and collapsed roofs, while Bayamo residents described street poles swaying in the quake’s wake.
The earthquakes are the latest in a series of disasters for Cuba, which has endured two hurricanes, widespread blackouts, and economic hardship in recent weeks. The island suffered a nationwide blackout on October 18 after a major power plant failure, followed days later by Hurricane Oscar. Last week’s Hurricane Rafael, a Category 3 storm, further compounded power outages and led to rare street protests amid rising discontent over the economic crisis, which has been marked by soaring inflation and shortages of essential goods. Authorities have reported that an unspecified number of demonstrators were detained.
State-run newspaper Granma confirmed that the quakes were felt across eastern and central Cuba but reported no fatalities. President Miguel Diaz-Canel has urged calm, warning that the government will not permit actions that "disturb public order." The government reported that 85% of Havana’s residents have regained power, though large areas in the storm-ravaged west, including Artemisa and Pinar del Rio provinces, remain without electricity.