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10 minutes ago
FORT DE FRANCE (AFP) - A strong earthquake measuring 7.4 magnitude, according to the US Geological Survey, struck near the French Caribbean island of Martinique Thursday.
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The quake caused at least two injuries and led to the collapse of a pair of buildings, officials said.
It struck at a depth of 143 kilometres (90 miles) and was centered 41 kilometres (25 miles) north-northwest of Martinique's capital Fort-de-France, the USGS said, updating its earlier estimate of 7.3 magnitude.
The deep center of the quake meant there was no threat of a destructive tsunami, according to the US-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center.
Police in Martinique said the quake had caused buildings to collapse.
"For the moment, a building and a bank have collapsed," a Martinique police source told AFP.
Two people were seriously wounded in the Lorrain district of Martinique, the emergency services there reported.
The two people had injured themselves because they had thrown themselves out of windows during the quake, said France's overseas minister Christian Estrosi from Paris.
Police helicopters were flying over Martinique searching for casualties, he added. There was no report of casualties in the nearby French Caribbean island of Guadaloupe, said Estrosi.
According to the deputy mayor of Fort de France, there were so far no reports of casualties there.
People took shelter under tables, while others rushed for the open, following emergency procedures in the event of an earthquake, an AFP reporter noted. Public building were also evacuated.
There were similar scenes in nearby Barbados, an AFP reporter noted: tremors sent people running out of buildings into the street in the capital Bridgetown and several homes were destroyed.
The tremors were also felt in another French Caribbean island, Guadeloupe, and to a lesser extent in French Guiana, the source said.
It was felt in Venezuela, including the capital Caracas, but no damage or victims were reported.
USGS geophysicist Stuart Sipkin said large earthquakes in the Caribbean were uncommon but not unheard of.
"Earthquakes of this magnitude aren't nearly as common (in the Caribbean) as they are in the Pacific Rim," Sipkin told AFP from Colorado.
"They've occurred in the past, and there have even been tsunami-producing earthquakes in the Caribbean. There just hasn't been one for quite a while."
Sipkin said the depth of the earthquake made damage and casualties less likely. "But things that happen when you get deeper earthquakes is that even though the shaking at the surface is not as strong, it's felt over a wider area."
As well as the USGS, several observatories in Martinique and in mainland France also registered the quake at levels of between 6.8 and 7.3.


Strong quake strikes Caribbean near Martinique By Linda Hutchinson-Jafar
1 hour, 8 minutes ago
PORT OF SPAIN (Reuters) - A powerful but deep earthquake with a magnitude of 7.3 sent workers scrambling in panic into Caribbean streets on Thursday after it struck near the island of Martinique and sent tremors through the region.
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The quake was "the strongest this century" but there were no initial reports of serious damage or injury, said Julian Dubois, deputy director of the St. Lucia Civil Defense.
"There have been no reports of significant damage apart from to water lines and water tanks," Dubois said by telephone.
He added the strength and duration of the quake would undoubtedly have caused cracks in buildings.
Dominique Boucle at the Civil Defense unit in Martinique, a French territory in the eastern Caribbean, said he had no details but there was "very little damage."
In Trinidad, Richard Robertson, head of the seismic research unit of the University of the West Indies, said no tsunami warning had been issued because of the depth of the quake, a statement echoed by the U.S. West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center and the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center.
The quake hit at 3 p.m. (1900 GMT), 13 miles northwest of Martinique, at a depth of 90 miles, the U.S. Geological Survey said. Earthquakes with a deep epicenter are less likely to cause damage.
In St. Lucia, panicking office workers rushed out into the streets, Dubois said. "It was a very strong shake," he said.
It was felt as far away as Colombia. In the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, some residents evacuated office buildings.
There were no reports of injuries or damage to property in Venezuela and the state oil company said it had no reports of any of its installations being affected.
Trinidad affiliates of oil and gas majors BP Plc and BG Group said no damage had been reported at their offshore installations.
(Additional reporting by Tom Brown and Michael Christie in Miami, Saul Hudson in Caracas and Matthew Bigg in Atlanta; Editing by Peter Cooney)


, yo creo que ya no nos azota nada 
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