Magnitude 6.1 earthquake near Cuba’s western side felt throughout southern Florida
.png "A map locating the epicenter of a 6.1 magnitude earthquake near Cuba’s Pinar del Río province.")
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake was felt throughout western Cuba on Monday afternoon, the U.S. Geological Survey reported.
According to the U.S. government agency, its epicenter was located at sea, 73 miles west-northwest of Mantua, one of Cuba’s westernmost municipalities in the province of Pinar del Río. The agency initially reported the magnitude of the earthquake as 6.4. The quake was recorded at 2 pm.
South Florida’s National Weather Service said it has received several reports of minor shaking across southwestern Florida. The agency said there was no tsunami danger linked to the earthquake.
“It felt like a jolt,” Emily Zager, 38, of West Palm Beach said, adding that she initially thought she had too much coffee when it occurred, but looked up the day’s earthquakes and confirmed her suspicions.
The earthquake shuttered the seat of Miami-Dade County government and briefly paralyzed the county’s rail system after employees reported shaking in downtown Miami’s Stephen P. Clark Government Center and transit hub.
Administrators shut down the 29-story Clark Center shortly after 2 p.m. due to “reports of the building shaking,” according to a county email posted on social media. At roughly the same time, the county’s Transportation and Public Works Department announced Metrorail and Metromover– two elevated rail systems that have stations inside the Clark Center– was temporarily halting service “due to a service disruption at Government Center Station.”
Shortly after 3:30 p.m., Metrorail and Metromover service resumed. But the Clark Center stations remained closed, with the transit agency saying the trains would bypass that building without stopping. After 5 p.m., county administrators cleared the Clark Center to reopen, and Metrorail and Metromover trains resumed service at the stations inside the building.
Also in Miami, fire crews were responding to reports of “seismic activity” in the city. In a press release, Miami authorities said after the earthquake off Cuba, “seismic activity was reportedly felt in several areas throughout the city, prompting multiple calls for service.
“At this time, no significant injuries or major property damage have been reported,” the release continued, “and all calls have been handled without further issue.”
Eastern Cuba is in an active seismic zone in the Caribbean that sits above the boundaries of the North American and Caribbean plates, which are responsible for most of the tremors felt on the island. In November 2024, a 6.8-magnitude earthquake in the ocean, 20 miles off Pilón, a town on the southern coast of the province of Granma in eastern Cuba, shook the region and destroyed several homes and buildings.
Though quieter, the western side of the island has also reported seismic activity. In June 2021, a 4.7-magnitude tremor was reported near Artemisa, a town 40 miles southwest of Havana.
According to Cubadebate, a Cuban state media outlet, the tremor was felt in the provinces of Pinar del Río and Havana and on the Isle of Youth. No damages or victims have been reported but authorities were monitoring the situation, Cubadebate said.
Miami Herald staff writers Kairi Lowery and Douglas Hanks contributed to this story.
This story was originally published June 8, 2026 at 3:38 PM.