An earthquake west of Cuba was felt throughout Brevard County on Monday, June 8, with residents reporting everything from feeling a slight rumble, like that of a passing truck, to wondering if a building collapse was in progress.
The earthquake, at 6.1 magnitude on the Richter scale and located 73 miles WNW of Mantua, Cuba, led to reports of “shaking around the Orlando, Jacksonville, and Miami areas,” Kole Fehling, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said in a statement to FLORIDA TODAY.
On the Space Coast, residents started reporting what they’d heard and felt shortly after 2 p.m.
While Rachel Horst, a spokesperson for Brevard County, said there have been no damage reports, social media was rife with posts about shaking everywhere from Florida Tech in Melbourne and condominiums on Merritt Island to the Moore Justice Center in Viera and along several commercial corridors in Palm Bay.
Merritt Island condo resident Bridget Reed, who lives on the fifth floor of her building, was folding laundry when the bed started shaking.
“I thought a Surfside situation was starting to happen,” she said, referring to the June 24, 2021, collapse of a Surfside, Florida, condo building which was caused by structural failure and killed dozens of people.
“I looked at the plants in our condo and they were moving, too. I got my keys and walked out. I didn’t see anyone, so I was thinking it was all in my head or maybe a haunting was starting.”
Melbourne resident Deidre Comegys, who lives near the Brevard Zoo, was sitting with her feet up when something “felt like a vibration.”
The former FLORIDA TODAY journalist soon learned that the vibration came from the earthquake near Cuba, with posts starting to spread on social media.
“I thought a big truck had gone by,” she said. “Nope.”
And for some, the rumbling was reminiscent of that from a Space Coast launch, one of which had occurred earlier June 8.
FLORIDA TODAY Executive Editor Mara Bellaby said her home on Merritt Island shook, rattling dishes in a dining room cabinet.
“It wasn’t as aggressive as some rocket launches but it was noticeable,” Bellaby said.
‘You don’t have to be on the same plate’ to feel a tremor
Experts say this was a fairly strong temblor, and aftershocks are not out of the question.
Earthquakes of this magnitude “are often felt several hundred kilometers from the epicenter. It is not completely unusual,” said Research Assistant Professor Jochen Braunmiller of the University of South Florida in Tampa.
“This was a fairly strong earthquake. We are some 430 miles away in Tampa and there were some who felt it in our building here on campus. There were some swinging of small objects.”
Braunmiller said that while Cuba sits along the North American Plate, the earthquake appears to be an intraplate, a seismic event that happens away from plate boundaries. He also expects aftershocks to follow, albeit smaller.
For many on the Space Coast, the immediate reaction was not that of an earthquake in progress.
Jennifer Wolf was working at her office in Palm Bay when suddenly, the windows began to rattle, with the motion lasting several seconds.
“The cubicles shook … and you can hear the crackling from the glass. We didn’t know what was happening,” the Palm Bay resident said.
Construction going on nearby came to mind before her officemates found out about the earthquake.
“It definitely is not what you’re thinking about when you’re living in Florida,” Wolf said.
In Rockledge, Pastor Shaun Ferguson was working at home when he heard glass shaking and felt the house moving.
“That was a little scary,” said Ferguson, a Rockledge city councilmember.
“I was doing some paperwork when it happened. I’ve never felt an earthquake in Rockledge; that was something else.”
The U.S. Geological Survey also reported that the earthquake registered at 6.1 on the Richter scale.
“That’s pretty crazy,” said Randy Parkinson, research associate professor of geology at Florida International University, upon hearing news of the quake.
“That’s unique.”
Florida is on a separate technonic plate than Cuba, and located on a more passive geological margin. But “you don’t have to be on the same plate,” Parkinson explained, to feel a tremor.
“Typically, the motion isn’t continuous,” he said. It’s an instantaneous release of energy in all directions, Parkinson added.
“I think it’s a reminder, in terms of geohazards,” he said, adding that Earth is a dynamic, moving surface, with an outer crust that’s “floating on what’s convecting.”
The FLORIDA TODAY earthquake database contains an earthquake map and graphics, including one that tracks by state how many earthquakes experienced and how many per year. Earthquakes considered “significant events” earn that title due to a combination of magnitude, number of “Did You Feel It?” responses, and a PAGER alert level.
The database shows Florida had one earthquake so far this year, but Alaska and California have had more than 19,000 each as of June 8, 2026.
There is no threat of tsunami, the National Weather Service reported in a Facebook post by Brevard County Emergency Management.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Earthquake near Cuba felt in Brevard; 6.1 on Richter scale
Reporting by Florida Today / Florida Today
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Florida Today | USA TODAY Network
