Strong quake triggers panic

People wait in the streets after evacuating buildings in Caracas on August 21, 2018 following a 7.0-magnitude earthquake that struck in the Venezuelan northeastern state of Sucre according to the US Geological Survey. - Venezuela's seismology institute recorded a 6.3 magnitude quake that caused panic, but there were no initial reports of victims or damage. (Photo by Federico PARRA / AFP) CARACAS — Venezuela was rocked by a 7.3-magnitude earthquake near its northeastern coast, the US Geological Survey said on Tuesday, causing panic although there were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.

Edwin Rojas, the governor of the nearest state to the earthquake, told government television “the situation is calm,” adding that “it’s been many years since we’ve felt a quake of this level.”

Rojas denounced social media reports of a tsunami as “psycho-terror” that “seeks to fish in troubled waters and alarm the population.”

“There is no tsunami threat from this earthquake,” the US Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said.