In southern Venezuela, where people were forced to evacuate offices, there were no immediate reports of injuries or damage to buildings. The state of Bolivar in southern Venezuela is the site of the Guri dam, one of the world's biggest hydroelectric installations.
``An evaluation of electrical, oil and housing infrastructure is necessary, in particular to rule out fissures or cracks that by spreading could generate damage,'' said Antonio Rivero, Venezuela's director of civil protection and administration of disasters.
Abreu said the depth of the earthquake eliminated tsunami concerns. The temblor may have caused some damage in Martinique and the nearby Caribbean islands of Dominica, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago because of the magnitude.
Martinique Hit
In Martinique, a government official said police and firefighters responded to calls for help, AP reported. Some people had minor injuries, it said.
``If you were pretty close to the epicenter, there's no doubt you would have felt pretty strong shaking, and things would have been coming down off your shelves,'' Abreu said. ``The earthquake could have caused broken windows or minor damage to buildings.''
The USGS has received no damage reports so far, he said. The quake failed to disrupt production at Trinidad's state-owned oil refinery Petrotrin, which produces 160,000 barrels of refined gasoline, diesel and oil daily for local and overseas markets, including the U.S., AP said.
Damage was limited because the quake was so deep, Richard Robertson, head of the seismic research unit at the University of the West Indies, said in a telephone interview.
``You're further from the source of the rupture,'' Robertson said. ``The energy dissipates as the waves go out.''
The previous most powerful quake in the eastern Caribbean occurred in 1974 when a 7.5-magnitude temblor hit Antigua and Barbuda, Robertson said.
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