Powerful earthquake hits coast of Venezuela

A powerful earthquake has shaken Venezuela’s northeastern coast and parts of the Caribbean, knocking out power and breaking windows.

Little damage was reported due to the depth of the quake, and there are not thought to have been any deaths as a result.

The magnitude 7.3 quake was the largest to strike Venezuela since 1900, according to the US Geological Survey.

At a depth of some 76 miles beneath the Earth’s surface, it appears to have caused only limited damage even near its epicentre a few miles off the Cariaco peninsula that stretches into the eastern Caribbean.

Seismologist Lucy Jones, a research associate with the California Institute of Technology, said: “Shaking does die off at a distance.”

She added that the earthquake’s depth probably prevented a tragedy.