Just after 2 p.m. ET on Monday, June 8, Floridians across the state and as far north as Tallahassee swarmed social media, asking each other, “Did you feel that?”
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake near Cuba sent parts of Florida shaking, according to local reports. It followed a series of earthquakes in the Philippines, including a magnitude 7.8 quake that killed at least 35 people after triggering building collapses and a small tsunami.
Which brings up the question: Does Florida get earthquakes?
Yes, but not very often.
Are there earthquakes in Florida?
Earthquakes happen somewhere in the world every day, experts say. Nearly 75% of the United States, including parts of Florida, could be impacted by a damaging earthquake, according to the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Seismic Hazard Model.
But Florida ties North Dakota as the state with the fewest earthquakes per year. Between 1975 and 1995, the state was one of only four that recorded no earthquakes at all. (The others were Iowa, Wisconsin, and North Dakota.)
Earthquakes are caused by sudden movement by tectonic plates that release energy in waves that travel through the earth’s crust and cause shaking in the surface.
Florida is not located near any tectonic plate boundaries. The closest fault line to Florida runs through the Caribbean Sea, just north of Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic and south of Cuba toward Guatemala. But if there is a strong enough earthquake, we may feel it even if it’s not nearby.
How likely is an earthquake in Florida?
It’s not likely, but it’s not zero, either.
Most of Florida has a 5% chance or lower of experiencing a damaging earthquake in the next 100 years, according to the USGS’ National Seismic Hazard Model map. But the Panhandle and an area of North Florida down to a line stretching from Jacksonville southwest to south of Cape Coral has a 5-25% chance, the agency said.
What was Florida’s largest earthquake?
In 1879, the largest recorded earthquake in Florida measured at a 4.4 magnitude, possibly centered near Palatka on the border of Putnam and Marion County in North Central Florida. The tremors were felt as far away as Tallahassee and Cedar Key.
“Plaster was shaken down and articles were thrown from shelves at St. Augustine and, to the south, at Daytona Beach,” according to USGS records.
Before the Cuba quake, the largest earthquake to affect Florida was in 2006, a 5.9 earthquake in the Gulf of Mexico that rocked Southwest Florida and reportedly shook some buildings in Cape Coral, but caused no serious damage.
What other earthquakes have hit Florida?
Most earthquakes in our area are minor ones, magnitude 3 and under — “magnitude” is the relative size of an earthquake, on the Moment Magnitude Scale — that residents might notice as a little shaking. Some notable Florida quakes:
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C. A. Bridges is a journalist for the USA TODAY Network-Florida’s service journalism Connect team. You can get all of Florida’s best content directly in your inbox each weekday day by signing up for the free newsletter, Florida TODAY.
Brandi D. Addison covers weather across the United States as the Weather Connect Reporter for the USA TODAY Network. She can be reached at baddison@gannett.com. Find her on Facebook here.
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Did Florida just have an earthquake? What to know after Cuba tremors
Reporting by C. A. Bridges and Brandi D. Addison, Daytona Beach News-Journal / Florida Today
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By C. A. Bridges and Brandi D. Addison, Daytona Beach News-Journal | USA TODAY Network
