Magnitude 6 quake strikes eastern Cuba as island remained under nationwide blackout
The tremor hit as Cuba was still trying to restore electricity after the “complete disconnection” of its National Electric System reported on Monday
A magnitude 6.0 earthquake struck eastern Cuba early on Tuesday while the island was still dealing with a nationwide blackout caused hours earlier by the collapse of the power grid. The quake was recorded by the European Mediterranean Seismological Centre at a depth of about 15 km, while reports from Cuba’s seismological service placed the epicenter 37 km southeast of Imías, in Guantánamo province, and said it was felt across several eastern provinces.
The tremor hit as Cuba was still trying to restore electricity after the “complete disconnection” of its National Electric System reported on Monday by the Energy and Mines Ministry and state grid operator UNE. The collapse left around 10 million people without power and it was described it as an islandwide blackout affecting a country of about 11 million people.
By Monday night, authorities had not linked the outage to a failure in the generating units that were operating at the time and were instead pointing to a transmission-related problem still under investigation. Electricity director Lázaro Guerra told state media that restoration had to proceed gradually to avoid further setbacks, and AP reported that only about 5% of Havana residents had seen service restored, along with some hospitals and priority circuits.
The latest blow hit a system already under severe strain. The outrage was Cuba’s third major nationwide blackout in four months, against a backdrop of aging infrastructure, weak maintenance and fuel shortages. Cuba has received only two small imported fuel cargoes this year — one from Mexico and one liquefied gas shipment from Jamaica — and none from Venezuela, historically its main supplier.
The combination of prolonged outages, economic deterioration and shortages had already fueled public anger before the quake. Over the weekend, a violent protest broke out in Morón, where demonstrators damaged the local Communist Party headquarters, and the government has publicly acknowledged that the lack of oil and the energy crisis have worsened over the last three months. There were no immediate reports of deaths or major damage from the earthquake, but it added another layer of pressure to an island that was still largely in the dark as crews tried to reconnect the grid.
