Only days after a 7.0 earthquake destroyed much of Haiti, two different earthquakes have been reported today, one in Caracas, Venezuela, and the other in Oklahoma
The Venezuela earthquake, registering as a 5.6 earthquake by the U.S. Geological Survey, was by far the more severe of the two, occurring just off the Caribbean coast of Caracas at about 3:40 p.m. local time.
Luckily, the capital was mostly untouched, with only a few evacuations and no reported injuries thus far. According to Justice Minister Tareck El Aissami, most of the damage and injuries occurred in the state of Falcon, west of Caracas.
El Aissami reported there were only two serious injuries reported, and 12 others had minor injuries.
There have also been no reports of infrastructure damage, either in the capital or outside of it. Venezuela's oil refineries, a key part of their economy, were also undamaged...
In comparison to both the Venezuela earthquake and the Haiti earthquake, the 4.0 earthquake that hit Oklahoma this morning seems almost inconsequential. The quake, which occurred around 9:25 CST, hit a few miles northeast of Jones, Oklahoma, a town of about 2,000 in the middle of Oklahoma.
Like the Venezuela earthquake, no injuries were reported, and there appears to have been no damage as well. The quake is unusual for the Rocky Mountain area, which normally does not get many earthquakes.
Jones seems to be an exception, however, especially when one takes into account that this isn't the first Oklahoma earthquake centered here. Only a few months ago, in August 2009, Jones was hit by a sequence of small quakes, the largest of which hit 3.7 on the Richter scale.