6.8 Magnitude Earthquake Shakes Cuba

A pair of two powerful earthquakes shook southern Cuba this morning around noon local time. The first quake had a magnitude of 5.9 and about an hour later another quake with a magnitude of 6.8 struck in the same general area near the town of Bartolome Maso.

The U.S. Naval base at Guantanamo Bay is about 250 miles from the epicenter and although personnel at the base reported feeling the two quakes, there were no injuries there. The earthquakes were also felt in Jamaica, the Bahamas and as far away as the east coast of Florida.

Today’s earthquakes are the latest disaster to strike Cuba in recent weeks. This past Wednesday Hurricane Raphael swept across the island destroying hundreds of homes. Last month the entire country was without power for days with the countries electrical grid collapsed several times. A few days later at least seven people were killed with Hurricane Oscar hit the Havana area.

There is no word on injuries from today’s earthquakes, though pictures posted on social media show damage to buildings in the country’s second largest city of Santiago de Cuba.