The U.S. Geological Service says the earthquake was centered 86 miles northwest of Montego Bay, Jamaica, and 87 miles west-southwest of Niquero, Cuba. It hit at 2:10 p.m. local time and the epicenter was a relatively shallow 6 miles beneath the surface.
The earthquake was felt strongly in Santiago, Cuba, the largest far-eastern Cuban city, said Belkis Guerrero, who works in a Catholic cultural center, according to CTV News Canada, “We were all sitting and we felt the chairs move,” she said. “We heard the noise of everything moving around.”
It’s getting really wild out there in Jamaica #earthquake #jamaica pic.twitter.com/X82CyHCBA2
— kendrabradia (@kendrabradia) January 28, 2020
Guerrero said there didn’t appear to be any damage that could be seen in the colonial city, adding, “It felt very strong but it doesn’t look like anything happened.”
The quake also hit the Cayman Isalands, leaving cracks in the roads and what looked like sewage oozing out of the cracks from burst sewer lines. Kevin Morales, editor-in-chief of the Cayman Compass newspaper said there were no immediate reports of deaths, injuries or more severe damage.
Road collapsed at many points on the Cayman islands in the 7.7 #earthquake 1 meter high #tsunami warning was #miami #cayman #Jamaica #cuba #TemblorPR #Terremoto #Temblor #Sismo pic.twitter.com/d5SElSn3rB
— Angel Elemiah (@MaximoSPQR) January 28, 2020
Interestingly, the Cayman Islands sees so very few earthquakes that at first, the newsroom staff didn’t know what was happening. “‘It was just like a big dump truck was rolling past,”‘ Morales said. “Then it continued and got more intense.”
The National Weather Service Tsunami Warning Center says waves reaching 1-3 feet above tide level are possible for some coasts of Belize, Cuba, Honduras, Mexico, Cayman Islands and Jamaica.
The USGS initially reported the magnitude at 7.3. This is a developing story.
