Seven people injured and more than 2,000 buildings affected by the double earthquake in Cuba are reported

(EFE) – The double earthquake registered in the southeast of Cuba caused seven injuries, 26 total building collapses, including private homes and public premises, and damage to more than 2,250 houses, according to a first official report released this Monday by official media.

The report, released by the Cuban Presidency at the end of the meeting of the National Defense Council, also refers to damage to 30 health institutions and 40 schools, as well as nine landslides in mountainous areas.

State television had previously reported that damage was also recorded to telephone and electrical infrastructure, such as wiring, poles and transformers, which left 14,000 customers in the area without electrical service.

Official information about what happened has been very scarce so far. The official media, the only ones with a certain presence in the region, have barely provided details or images related to the double earthquake and the personal or material damage.

In the 36 hours after the earthquakes of magnitude 6 and 6.8, the National Center for Seismological Research (Cenais) recorded a total of 1,130 aftershocks, only 43 perceptible by humans (of magnitude greater than 2.5), concentrated in the provinces of Granma and Santiago de Cuba.

Pilón, which was also hit by a 5.6 magnitude earthquake in 1976, was this time the town most affected by the earthquakes, although Media Luna, Manzanillo, Yara, Campechuela, Buey Arriba and Bartolomé have also been noted. Maso.

As explained by the president of the Cesnais Scientific Council, Bladimir Moreno Toarán, it is likely that in the coming months aftershocks will continue to be recorded “which should decrease as time passes; However, permanent surveillance is maintained because the occurrence of a larger earthquake cannot be ruled out.”

Cuban specialists emphasize that the Granma province has historically had other similar or smaller events, among them, the 6.9 magnitude earthquake on May 25, 1992, or the 7.1 magnitude earthquake on January 28, 2021. near the Cayman Islands that was felt very clearly throughout the eastern region of Cuba.

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 fault, located along the southeast coast of the island.

Cuba is located in a region – spanning from the Dominican Republic to Mexico – in which different tectonic fault systems converge with significant seismic activity.