A map locating the epicenter of a 6.1 magnitude earthquake near Cuba’s Pinar del Río province.
National Weather Service, South Florida-Miami.
Hurricanes make us anxious, but most people in Florida know what to do. But an earthquake? Now, that’s a little freaky.
Monday’s earthquake, first labeled as a 6.4 magnitude earthquake but later demoted to 6.1 by the U.S. Geological Survey, was felt by people across Florida, despite its epicenter over 250 miles away from the southernmost city of Key West.
Both the National Weather Service of Miami and the Florida Keys said there was no cause for alarm and no tsunami threat, but that didn’t stop confused Floridians from taking to social media and neighborhood Facebook groups to ask if anyone else felt something similar.
Most of the reports came in from Southeast and Central Florida, but some shock waves were reported as far north as Jacksonville and near Gainesville. And while the quake did cause some disruptions in downtown Miami — the evacuation of County Hall and the halting of Metrorail service — officials were quick to calm the masses.
“There is no cause for alarm,” the Miami Beach Fire Department assured people.
April Whitney, 50, who responded to a North Florida news post of the earthquake and said she felt shaking in Archer, a small town about 30 minutes from Gainesville.
Whitney said she was in bed when she thought she felt her house shake. She thought to herself, ‘No way that’s a tremor,’ but it felt the same as what she imagined it to be.
“I didn’t think anything of it until people were asking ‘Did you feel that?’” she told the Miami Herald.
People in downtown Miami, West Palm Beach, the Keys, Bradenton and the Gulf Coast also felt the quake.
In Fort Myers, Kristin Marsh was working in her home office, her mini dachshund puppy nestled to her lap, when she felt the floor vibrating. She thought something was wrong — maybe she was having a reaction to something, until office items started to shake. She then realized what it was.
Many of her neighbors were posting similar experiences.
“I echoed the sentiment of many people who thought they were losing their minds,” she said. “It was so bizarre.”
