Powerful 7.3-Magnitude Earthquake Rattles Venezuela, but Causes Little Damage

A powerful earthquake shook Venezuela’s northeastern coast and parts of the Caribbean but likely caused little damage besides knocking out power in some places and toppling supermarket shelves because of its depth, experts said. The 7.3 quake Tuesday was the largest to strike Venezuela since 1900, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. But at a depth of some 76 miles (123 kilometers) beneath the Earth’s surface it appeared to have caused only limited damage even near its epicenter a few miles off the Cariaco peninsula stretching into the eastern Caribbean. “Shaking does die off at a distance,” said seismologist Lucy Jones, a research associate with the California Institute of Technology, adding that the earthquake’s considerable depth likely prevented a tragedy. More…