A 6.1 magnitude earthquake struck near western Cuba on Monday. (Representational Photo)
A 6.1 magnitude earthquake struck near western Cuba on Monday, shaking buildings in Havana, as its tremors were felt all the way up to Florida.
No injuries or damage were immediately reported.The quake struck at a depth of 10 km in waters west of Havana, according to the US Geological Survey.
Flavia Pupo, a manager at the Pinar del Rio hotel in western Cuba described how the building shook, sparking panic.”Everyone here is OK,” she said over telephone. “The people on the street are a little bit scared.”
The latest earthquake was felt as far away as Florida. The National Weather Service in Miami said in a tweet that it received several reports of shaking in the southwestern part of the state.
A flood of social media posts Monday afternoon indicated that people felt shaking even north of Orlando.
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Maria Moncayo, who works at a law office in downtown Fort Lauderdale, said she had been quietly working at her desk when she started to feel a vibrating sensation. She compared it to someone doing construction in another part of the building, and it lasted about a minute or so.
Moncayo said she had experienced several earthquakes while living in Ecuador, including a 7.8 magnitude earthquake that left hundreds dead in 2016. But she hadn’t experienced one since moving to Florida seven years ago.
“Since I moved here, it kind of left my mind, but when I felt my desk moving, I thought it was going to be like Ecuador,” Moncayo said. “It kind of gave me flashbacks, but then I realized that it’s not bad, it’s just a little one.”
Miami-Dade County officials announced that they were evacuating several buildings out of an abundance of caution, including the county’s main government office building, a 28-story high rise in downtown Miami.
(This is a developing story and will be updated)
