Venezuela Earthquake on heels of Haiti Earthquake

By IBTimes Staff Reporter | January 15 2010 4:48 PM

An earthquake with preliminary magnitude of 5.6 shook eastern Venezuela on Friday, leaving minimal physical damage, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

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The quake hit at 1:30 p.m. local time (1800 GMT). According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the quake was centered about 375 kilometers east of the capital, Caracas.

The quake's epicenter was about 25 miles from Carupano, near the Caribbean coast in northeastern Venezuela, the agency said. It was 7 miles deep.

The Venezuela earthquake comes right on the heels of the 7.0 Haiti Earthquake. Caupano, the coastal town that was hit, is just 813 miles from Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

The last large quake in Venezuela was in September 2008; it was 6.2 on the Richter Scale.

There has been no report of physical damage, although it did leave people scared and shaken up.

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