Earthquake rocks three countries
CARACAS: A magnitude 7.3 earthquake struck Venezuela’s eastern coast, home to largely poor fishing communities, yesterday, shaking buildings as far away as Colombian capital Bogota and knocking power out in parts of Trinidad.
Venezuelan officials said there were no immediate reports of injuries and two sources at state oil company PDVSA said the Opec member’s refineries and oil fields were operating normally.
But fretful Venezuelans with relatives close to the epicentre said they were struggling to contact their family mem bers due to damaged phone lines.
And Venezuela is not in good shape to deal with a natural disaster. It is already wrestling with a crippling economic crisis — medicine is running short, hospitals are barely functioning and there are severe shortages of basics like chicken and milk.
The tremor — one of the country’s strongest ever — hit at 5.31pm (local time). Along Venezuela’s picturesque palm treedotted northern coast, residents said the long quake was terrifying and led people to dash into the streets.
‘‘I had gotten into bed to watch the news on TV and my bed started to move as if it was made of water,’’ said Elia Sanchez, a doctor in Cumana, the capital of the eastern state of Sucre that was the closest to the offshore epicentre. ‘‘We had to go down nine floors. It felt like it would never end.’’
The governor of Sucre told state television that so far there were no reports of deaths or major damage. He called for calm.
‘‘Do not fall victim to psychological terror, messages about a tsunami and all that,’’ said governor Edwin Rojas, who belongs to President Nicolas Maduro’s Socialist Party.
United States Geological Survey geophysicist Jessica Turner said the quake’s depth, 123km below the surface, would have dampened some of the shaking.
In Trinidad and Tobago, there were initial reports of some cracks to buildings, cars damaged when concrete debris fell on them, and loss of electricity.
Colombia’s government said there were no reports of victims or damage but workers dashed out of highrise blocks in capital Bogota.