ROCKED BY QUAKE
Venezuela and Trinidad earthquake: Massive magnitude 7.3 quake slams Caribbean coast – but tsunami alert cancelled
The quake, which forced medics to treat patients in busy streets, was the largest to strike Venezuela since 1900
A POWERFUL earthquake wreaked havoc in Venezuela and across parts of the Caribbean - sending people fleeing into the streets for safety.
The 7.3 magnitude quake which struck off the Cariaco peninsula on Tuesday night is the largest to strike the country since 1900.
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Supermarket shelves came crashing down in Cumana, the largest city near the earthquake's center.
Downtown in Caracas, concrete from the top floors of the unfinished Tower of David skyscraper fell to the sidewalk, forcing firefighters to close off traffic.
At the General Hospital Santos Anibal Dominicci, hospital beds were moved to the street with doctors forced to treat patients in a car park.
The quake was originally classed at 6.7, but was later upgraded by the United States Geological Survey.
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Terrifying video on social media showed families fleeing shaking buildings, as people screamed for their loved ones to escape a block of flats.
Another shows Sails restaurant in near-by Trinidad ripped in half by a massive crack in the floor, with tables and chairs in disarray.
Power outages were reported across the island, where people ran into the street and gasped as large glass panes at one supermarket shattered and falling concrete smashed several cars.
Hours after the horrifying scenes, parents with young children sit patiently beside the skyscraper, still waiting for medical attention.
Confusing moments after the quake were captured live on Venezuelan state television as people yelled "quake!" while MP Diosdado Cabello, delivering a speech at a march in support of the socialist government's recent package of reforms.
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Interior Minister Nestor Reverol said that so far there were no reports of fatalities.
Marisela Lopez, who was at the Friends with Cancer foundation with her 7-year-old daughter when the quake struck said: "We felt something strong and they told everyone to run."
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Video showing the aftermath of 6.8 magnitude earthquake which hit Trindad and Tobago
Its epicentre was near the town of Carupano.
Witnesses said the earthquake shook buildings in the capital city of Caracas, more than 330 miles away.
Shocks were also felt as far away as Colombia's capital Bogotá.
The US Pacific Tsunami Center said the quake, which was fairly deep, could cause small tsunami waves along the coast.
But this fear was later relaxed and the tsunami warning dropped.
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Video from inside an apartment rocked by massive magnitude 7 earthquake in the north coast of Venezuela
Coastal areas including Grenada, Trinidad and Tobago have been warned to be vigilant.
A magnitude 7.3 quake is considered major and is capable of causing widespread, heavy damage.
But the quake was 76.5 miles deep, which would have dampened the shaking.
Hours later, the island of Vanuatu, in the South Pacific - off the East coast of Australia - was hit by a 6.7 magnitude earthquake.
It comes amid mounting fears that the catastrophic "Big One" earthquake could rip through California.
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A cluster of 16 "significant" quakes - above magnitude 4.5 - hit yesterday following 53 that shook the region along the disaster zone on Sunday.
The earthquakes rattled Indonesia, Bolivia, Japan and Fiji but didn't reach the western coast of the US, which sits on the horseshoe-shaped Ring of Fire fault line.
Fears are now growing California's "Big One" could be on the way - a 9.0 magnitude earthquake that would tear through the West coast of the US and cause a tsunami.
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