A TREMOR that shook Guyana on Tuesday afternoon saw prison warders at the Camp Street Prison scampering to exit the building, leaving petrified inmates behind resulting in a ruckus that almost led to a riot, prison sources confirmed.
“This building started rocking like a hammock, it was real scary” one prison rank told this publication. Inmates were heard making noises while using instruments to hit their cell doors, and shouting profanities at the warders who ran for safety. Less than 500 prisoners are said to be at the prison.
Around 17:30hrs on Tuesday, scores of persons were seen congregating on the streets of Georgetown, while business entities also saw employees being temporarily evacuated as the intensity of the tremor increased.
Reports indicate that a major earthquake had struck the coastal region of Venezuela on Tuesday resulting in the tremor being felt in Guyana. The U.S. Geological Survey reported the quake had a magnitude of 7.3 and was widely felt in neighbouring Colombia, Guyana, and Trinidad and Tobago. The quake hit just east of the coastal Venezuelan town of Carúpano in Sucre state.