Development & Aid, Environment, Headlines, Latin America & the Caribbean

CUBA: The Earth Trembles in the Caribbean Too

Patricia Grogg* - Tierramérica

SANTIAGO, Cuba, Aug 3 2005 (IPS) - Frequently thrashed by the hurricanes that roar through the Caribbean region each year, Cuba knows something about disaster – including earthquakes, due to the proximity of its eastern-most point to the Bartlett-Cayman fault system.

The fault is the active border of the North American and Caribbean tectonic plates that make up the solid exterior crust of the Earth. In that and nearby areas is where Cuba’s strongest telluric movement is reported.

On average, 10 to 15 perceptible quakes are reported annually, but the last really intense earthquake to cause major damage was a long time ago: Feb. 3, 1932.

"First came the shocking noise, then everything began to shake and people started to scream and run like crazy. It was as if the world was going to end," Francisco López told Tierramérica. He still remembers the day when Santiago was devastated by a quake that measured 8.0 on the Richter scale (the maximum ever recorded has been 9.5).

Around 80 percent of the buildings in this city, located 847 km southeast of Havana, suffered some kind of damage as a result of the temblor.

Not even the venerable metropolitan cathedral withstood the quake. Although it remained standing, it suffered various cracks in its roofs and walls. At the time, the angel that looks out over the city from the cupola lost one of its wings. Just a few doors down, the Venus Hotel caved in.

In 1947, a quake of similar magnitude once again rattled the residents of Santiago, but was less destructive, said Enrique Arango, deputy science director at CENAIS, the national seismology research centre.

In addition to Santiago, the Cuban provinces at greatest seismic risk are Guantánamo, Granma and Holguín, all at the far eastern end of the island, though experts warn that quakes can occur anywhere in the country.

However, until recently there was little awareness about the risk of quake disasters. "Since in our country earthquakes occur only ever 80 or 100 years, we lose the historical memory of those events," explained Arango.

CENAIS, created in 1992, drew up a seismic risk map two years ago for Santiago, which is currently home to about half a million people. The map is the basis for planning investment strategies, construction and rehabilitation, based on each case. The environmental permits for this eastern region now also require a seismic evaluation.

The city was founded in 1515 and is second in terms of socio-economic importance, after Havana. But many of its buildings were constructed in the late 19th or early 20th centuries, and many of those are in "unsatisfactory condition," Arango admits.

Official statistics indicate that in Cuba’s eastern provinces, more than half of homes are in mediocre or poor condition.

"They should study the technologies and materials most appropriate for the site where housing is to be built, but first of all evaluate what kind of dangers the area presents. In the eastern zone, all construction should heed the new seismic regulation drafted in 1999," said Arango.

That policy establishes engineering parameters based on the type of construction, the purpose of the building, the characteristics of the soil and other technical aspects. Toward that end, CENAIS provides an evaluation of seismic vulnerability, as it has already done for all medical facilities in the area of greatest risk for earthquakes.

In the last 30 years, the impacts of tectonic and geological disasters have caused more than 116,000 deaths in Latin America and the Caribbean, according to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

Cuba is currently preparing itself technologically to join the early warning system for quakes and tsunamis in the area. "Our network records earthquakes of magnitudes equal to or more than 5.5 (on the Richter scale) anywhere in the world, and we can monitor those that occur in the Central American Pacific," Arango said.

But the CENAIS expert and other Cuban scientists say there is very little risk that a quake on the ocean floor would cause a tsunami here, due to the characteristics of seismic activity in the region and the type of tectonic fault that runs along the country’s coast.

CENAIS has seven "broad band" stations capable of detecting quakes near or far away, located strategically around Cuba, and four telematic stations that focus on local seismic activity. The centre’s staff of 110 includes 35 researchers, six experts with doctorates and 14 with master’s degrees.

(* Patricia Grogg is an IPS correspondent. Originally published Jul. 30 by Latin American newspapers that are part of the Tierramérica network. Tierramérica is a specialised news service produced by IPS with the backing of the United Nations Development Programme and the United Nations Environment Programme.)