TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - A 6.1-magnitude earthquake struck offshore western Cuba on Monday, sending tremors across parts of the Gulf of Mexico and into Florida, where residents reported shaking and minor damage was recorded in at least one home.
Greater Kashmir reported that the earthquake occurred at a depth of 10 kilometers in waters west of Havana, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). Buildings shook in Cuba's capital, prompting concern among residents, although no injuries or major damage were immediately reported.
Flavia Pupo, a manager at a hotel in Pinar del Río in western Cuba, said the tremor caused panic among some people. “Everyone here is OK,” she said by telephone. “The people on the street are a little bit scared.”
The earthquake was felt far beyond Cuba. In Florida, residents from the southern part of the state to areas north of Orlando reported experiencing shaking. The National Weather Service office in Miami said it received multiple reports from southwestern Florida, while social media users across the state described feeling vibrations.
Maria Moncayo, who works at a law office in downtown Fort Lauderdale, said she initially thought construction work was causing the movement.
“It kind of gave me flashbacks, but then I realized that it's not bad, it's just a little one,” Moncayo said, recalling her experience living through a deadly 7.8-magnitude earthquake in Ecuador in 2016.
Out of caution, Miami-Dade County officials evacuated several government buildings, including the county's 28-story headquarters in downtown Miami. Authorities also temporarily suspended two elevated commuter rail services. No injuries or significant structural damage were reported in South Florida.
Further north, however, the tremor appeared to have caused minor property damage. According to WCJB, Williston resident Jim Freeman said he was resting at his home inside the Cactus Island Nursery when the earthquake struck around 2 p.m.
“I started shaking in my chair almost like I was on a commuter train pulling into a stop, and the house kind of gently shook like jello,” Freeman said. He estimated the shaking lasted between 10 and 30 seconds.
Freeman said the earthquake caused minor damage to both his home and a nearby chicken coop. He expressed surprise that an earthquake centered hundreds of kilometers away could have such an effect.
Geophysicists said the unusual reach of the tremor was linked to the direction of fault movement beneath the Gulf of Mexico. University of Florida geophysics professor Ray Russo explained that seismic energy can travel differently depending on how a fault shifts during an earthquake.
“In this case, the movement sent the energy toward Florida,” Russo said, adding that local ground conditions can also influence how strongly shaking is felt.
USGS geophysicist William Barnhart described the earthquake as an exceptionally rare event. According to him, it is the largest earthquake recorded in the Gulf of Mexico since modern seismic instruments began monitoring the region in the 1950s.
“It’s one of only five or six earthquakes of magnitude five or greater that we're aware of in the entire Gulf,” Barnhart said.
Despite its strength, the earthquake did not generate a tsunami. Barnhart noted that while tsunami-producing earthquakes are more common in the Pacific Ocean, they can occasionally occur in the Atlantic basin. He added that western Cuba could experience aftershocks, although they are unlikely to be felt in Florida.
“There’s always a very, very small chance that this could be followed by a larger earthquake,” Barnhart said. “But in Florida, people shouldn't expect to feel very much shaking, if any shaking at all, from any aftershocks that happen.”
The earthquake occurred in a region not typically associated with major seismic activity. However, Cuba's southeastern Oriente fault zone has produced damaging earthquakes in the past, including a magnitude-7.7 earthquake in January 2020 that caused damage in Cuba and the Cayman Islands.
For now, authorities in both Cuba and Florida continue monitoring the situation, while residents assess the impact of one of the strongest earthquakes ever recorded in the Gulf of Mexico.
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