Monday, November 11

Cuba was hit hard by two strong earthquakes yesterday which shook the Caribbean, but they are only the latest in a swath of recent disasters to strike the island country.

According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), the stronger earthquake had an epicenter around 25 miles south-southwest of the town of Bartolomé Masó, shaking buildings hundreds of miles away. The epicenter was located off the coast of the Granma Province on a peninsula in the southeast portion of the island, which has a population of around 740,000 people. The province is relatively unpopulated, as a large part of the province is national park while the rest of the region is farmland. The area where the quakes struck is located exactly on the tectonic plate boundary between the North American and Caribbean plates, which move horizontally in opposite directions-- known as a transform plate boundary.

The first earthquake struck at 10:50 am on Sunday morning with a magnitude of 5.9 on the Richter scale, while the second hit around one hour later with a magnitude of 6.8. Several aftershocks were reported in the hours afterward, but none were extremely powerful.

In addition, the earthquake was felt across the Caribbean-- strong tremors were felt in Jamaica and Haiti, along with large Cuban cities like Santiago de Cuba, Holguín, and Las Tunas. Residents quickly rushed outside into open spaces, away from any buildings or trees, and remained outside for hours before it became safe to reenter their homes.

However, no serious damage was reported, apart from small cracks in walls or roofs. Many buildings in rural areas of Cuba are crumbling due to their age and haphazard construction, which makes them more vulnerable to natural disasters. Thankfully, no one was killed in the quakes, but multiple landslides were reported in more mountainous areas within the Granma and Santiago de Cuba provinces.

This comes just after countless issues with electricity in the last month. In early October, one of Cuba's primary power plants ran out of fuel, bringing down the entire country's power grid. Power was on and off for the next few weeks until Hurricane Rafael slammed into the island as a Category 3 hurricane, forcing thousands of evacuations, destroying hundreds of homes, and taking out the power grid once again. Just as Cuba has begun to recover, they are reeling from several strong earthquakes, which just add onto the list of problems that they have faced in the last few months.

Upcoming Events:

• World Diabetes Day (Thursday, November 14)

• International Day for the Prevention of and Fight against All Forms of Transnational Organized Crime (Friday, November 15)

• Birthday of Guru Nanak Dev Sahib (Friday, November 15)

• International Day for Tolerance (Saturday, November 16)

• World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims (Sunday, November 17)

Fact of the Day (Reader's Digest): Each team playing in the Super Bowl gets 108 footballs. Of those, 54 are for practice, and 54 are for the actual game. Also, typically, 120 balls are used during the actual game. The additional ones are kicker footballs, used for all kicking plays.

Quote of the Day (Gracious Quotes): Never lose hope. Storms make people stronger and never last forever. (Roy T. Bennett)

Word of the Day (Merriam-Webster): Truncate (verb)- To truncate something—such as a discussion or essay—is to make it shorter.

In a Sentence: The interview was truncated and edited for clarity.