November 10, 2024 Earthquake: Granma, Santiago DE Cuba

Reference #13456:

At least ten people injured, 156 homes destroyed and 8,444 damaged, 474 public buildings and a dock damaged and power outages occurred in the Granma-Santiago de Cuba area.

Tectonic Summary

The November 10, 2024, M 6.8 earthquake just south of Cuba occurred as the result of predominantly strike-slip faulting at shallow depth near or within the Septentrional-Oriente Fault Zone. Focal mechanism solutions for the event indicate that rupture occurred on either a moderately-dipping left-lateral strike-slip fault, or a steeply dipping oblique reverse and right-lateral strike-slip fault. The left-lateral strike-slip orientation is consistent with the overall plate motions of the tectonic region in which the North America plate is moving westward relative to the Caribbean plate, with the Gonâve microplate between. The Septentrional-Oriente Fault Zone is a transform fault bounded by the North America plate to the north and the Gonave microplate to the south.

While commonly plotted as points on maps, earthquakes of this size are more appropriately described as slip over a larger fault area. Strike-slip earthquakes of the size of the November 10, 2024, earthquake are typically about 45 km by 10 km in size (length x width).

Seismicity is common in the region that hosted the November 10, 2024, earthquake. In the preceding 50 years, there have been 23 other earthquakes of magnitude 5 and larger. The January 28, 2020, M 7.7 Lucea, Jamaica, earthquake occurred just 185 km west of today’s earthquake.

Reference #13857 (unofficial translation):

Earthquakes measuring 6 and 6.7 on the Richter scale in southeastern Cuba have resulted in 10 injuries and damaged 3,752 buildings, primarily in Granma. Health and educational institutions have been affected.

In that province, the number of people injured by the earthquakes has risen to 10, while the damage to infrastructure totals 3,518, including 54 total collapses.

In Santiago de Cuba, the second most affected province, the recovery of health, education, and housing institutions has begun, with a total of 234 homes impacted in this last category.

In the meantime, the aftershocks of the earthquakes continue, with 2,300 tremors recorded, of which at least 78 were felt in the eastern region since the two strong seismic events lastSunday.