Major quake shakes Miami and the Caribbean, tsunami threat passes

 

Video screenshot

 

(Reuters) - A powerful magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the western Caribbean on Tuesday, triggering evacuations as buildings shook across the Cayman Islands, in Jamaica, and in downtown Miami, but with no initial reports of significant damage.

 

The epicenter of the quake was in the sea between Jamaica, the Cayman Islands and Cuba, at a shallow depth of 6.2 miles (10 km).

 

The International Tsunami Information Center said an earlier threat of a tsunami wave had largely passed. Minor sea level fluctuations up to 1 feet (30 cm) were still possible, it said.

 

In Miami, Florida, several buildings downtown had groups of people standing outside who said they had been evacuated.

 

Amateur video shows Cayman residents reacting to a powerful magnitude 7.7 earthquake that struck in the sea south of Cuba on Tuesday, and shook Grand Cayman.

 

The Miami-Dade Fire-Rescue department said it responded to multiple calls about high rise buildings swaying.

 

"As of now, there are no injuries or structural damages. Residents/visitors are advised to stay calm," the department said on Twitter.

Officials across the region had no initial reports of major damage, despite the size of the quake.

 

Angie Watler, a spokeswoman for police on Cayman Brac, the island nearest the epicenter of the quake, said members of the public had reported some damage to buildings and to a swimming pool at the Carib Sands resort on the south of the island.

 

Videos on social media, apparently from Jamaica and the Cayman Islands, showed water sloshing out of pools during the quake.

Watler said there were no reports so far of injuries but that authorities were still making checks on the area.

 

A Cayman Islands official said there had been some reports of sinkholes following the quake.

 

The quake was also felt in several provinces across Cuba, the government said. It was not strongly felt in the capital of Havana, according to a Reuters witness.

 

(Reporting by Dave Graham and Lizbeth Diaz in Mexico City and Zachary Fagenson in Miami; Additional reporting by Sandra Maler in Washington and Sarah Marsh in Havana; Writing by Frank Jack Daniel; Editing by Nick Zieminski and Rosalba O'Brien)

 

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-01-29

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Just had another.

 

M 6.1 - 57km SE of East End, Cayman Islands

VI
DYFI?V
ShakeMapGREEN
PAGER

Time

2020-01-28 21:55:16 (UTC)

Location

18.946°N 80.714°W

Depth

10.0 km

7.7 (from the original quake) is a very destructive intensity.