SANTIAGO DE CUBA, (ACN) The Cuban National Seismological Research Center (CENAIS by its Spanish acronym) made a better use of science and technology to monitor seismic activity in addition to an application of an early warning system to alert the population in 2016.

Enrique Arango Arias, deputy technical director of CENAIS, told ACN that five new stations were connected to the national system in the provinces of Granma, Santiago de Cuba, Holguin, Villa Clara and Matanzas.

There were also built, rehabilitated and technologically improved other facilities in Cuban eastern provinces, all of which brings important improvements in monitoring that is performed 24 hours a day by specialists, Arango explained.
the seismic resilience of the population, thanks to the project Alert and Prepared Cities by CENAIS and the NGOs CARE France and OXFAM Belgium, with funds from the European Union.

In 2016, the National Seismological Service registered 5 756 tremors in Cuba and, although the entire country trembles, the 61 perceptible ones, by their magnitude higher than three, were in the eastern region, according to a CENAIS summary bulletin.

The main seismic activity occurred from January 17 to February 18 in the southwest of Santiago de Cuba city, with 1 454 earthquakes, 38 of them were perceptible.

By 2017, CENAIS intends to expand its stations, complete micro-localization studies to rise stations in Isla de la Juventud and Pinar del Rio provinces, continue to improve its technology and diversify ways of preparing the population, said Arango.

Cuban seismological stations will also continue to provide data to international networks for the location of moderate or strong earthquakes in the Caribbean, Central, South and North America, he added.