Earthquake off Cuba’s coast felt from as far as Florida

Digital Journalist

ORLANDO, Fla. —

A 6.1 magnitude earthquake hit off the coast of Cuba on Monday, the U.S. Geological Survey reported.

The major earthquake happened about 62 miles west of Mantua, Cuba.

No injuries or damage were immediately reported.

Flavia Pupo, a manager at the Pinar del Río hotel, in Pinar del Rio, Cuba, described how the building shook and caused some fear.

“Everyone here is OK,” she said by telephone. “The people on the street are a little bit scared.”

Florida impacts

Thousands of people across Florida reported feeling shaking just after 2 p.m., including people at Disney World.

It was a shallow earthquake at about 16 miles below the surface.

There is no tsunami threat from this earthquake at this time; it was the strongest earthquake near Florida on record.

Officials in Lake County, Florida, said its government offices would be closed the rest of the day after the earthquake, “out of an abundance of caution.”

Several rides at SeaWorld and other theme parks have closed temporarily.

The Regions building in downtown Orlando was reportedly evacuated after the shaking.

The Oriente fault zone is located just off Cuba’s southeast coast and has unleashed damaging earthquakes in recent centuries, including a 7.7 magnitude quake in January 2020 in open waters that caused damage in Cuba and the Cayman Islands.