A 6.1-magnitude earthquake struck off the northwestern coast of Cuba on the afternoon of June 8, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). It is considered the strongest earthquake in the region in nearly 150 years.
The USGS reported the epicenter was located about 105 kilometers (65 miles) northwest of the Cuban city of Mantua, at a depth of 16 miles (approximately 25.7 kilometers). While there have been no reports of casualties or serious property damage, tremors were clearly felt in many parts of Florida and in several areas of Mexico, including Cancún.
In Florida, many residents reported feeling the ground shake, a rare phenomenon in a region unaccustomed to earthquakes. Britnee Jeffries, who lives in Tampa Bay, told local TV station WFLA: “It felt very strong and really quite scary. I wasn’t too worried because I thought earthquakes don’t happen here, but at the same time I was concerned precisely because we’re not used to this.”
Similarly, Barbara German in Ruskin, Florida, told WTVT that she was working upstairs when she felt the tremors: “At first I was pretty panicked because I didn’t know what it was.” Bobby Shea in St. Petersburg described it: “I was sitting on a chair and it started rocking back and forth... Some pieces of metal on the wall were clanging together. I thought: ‘God, that’s weird. This is a concrete building.’”
Kelsey Pope, another resident, shared with WFLA: “I was sitting in my work chair at home when I suddenly felt a strong shake. At first I thought my dog Archie was moving, but then I saw my desk and even the water in my Nespresso coffee machine was sloshing. My entire apartment was swaying—I’m on the third floor, so I actually thought it might collapse. After a few minutes, the shaking stopped and I realized it was an earthquake.”
In Mexico, Reuters reported that evacuation orders were issued in Cancún, while nearby cities Playa del Carmen and Tulum also felt the aftershocks. The state governments of Yucatán and Quintana Roo have activated emergency prevention measures in public areas.
The U.S. Tsunami Warning Center stated that there is no tsunami threat to the east and south coasts of the United States or the east coast of Canada following the earthquake. “Based on earthquake information and historical tsunami data, this earthquake is not expected to generate a tsunami,” the center emphasized.
Paul Earle, a seismologist at the USGS, told Reuters that the last earthquake of similar magnitude within 200 miles of this epicenter occurred in 1880—a 6.0-magnitude earthquake near San Cristóbal, Cuba.
