FLORIDA, USA — A large 6.8 magnitude earthquake took place off the southeastern coast of Cuba Sunday around 11:49 a.m., according to the U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) map. The quake, which was only 14 kilometers deep, was felt as far away as South Florida.
Videos on social media out of Miami show buildings swaying, as long S waves can travel well away from an earthquake's epicenter.
No major damage was reported due to the quake, but it does take place only days after a major hurricane, Hurricane Rafael, hit the country as it continues to suffer from widespread power outages due to infrastructure failure.
How common is it for Florida to experience tremors from an earthquake?
Florida it is one of the least seismically active areas in the United States due to its location on the North American Plate, far from active tectonic boundaries. However, a few notable earthquakes and tremors have been recorded in the Sunshine State's history, though they have been relatively small and infrequent.
Notably in 1952, an earthquake that struck near the Florida-Alabama border was felt in parts of the Florida Panhandle, including Pensacola and Tallahassee. Although the epicenter was in Alabama, residents in northern Florida felt moderate shaking.
And earlier this year, a moderate-sized 3.9 magnitude earthquake was reported about 100 miles offshore from Cape Canaveral after the Navy blasted one of its carriers with thousands of pounds of explosives in the Atlantic Ocean to simulate how the ship would perform in battle conditions. Some people in Melbourne and Palm Bay reported feeling minor shaking, according to the USGS.
As for Cuba, the country isn’t typically known as a major earthquake hotspot either compared to other regions in the Caribbean. Notably as recent as 2021, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake hit near Cuba's second-largest and second-most populous city - Santiago.
