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Powerful Earthquake Hits Between Cuba And Jamaica

A powerful magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck 86 miles northwest of Jamaica on Tuesday afternoon, sending seismic energy that could be felt throughout the northern Caribbean and as far as coastal Florida. The earthquake and ensuing aftershocks opened sinkholes on the Cayman Islands and swayed buildings from Jamaica to downtown Miami.

Construction workers in Kingston kept laboring on a rooftop as the ground shook. Mirrors vibrated in Sancti Sprítitus, Cuba, where residents reported feeling such tremors for the first time in their lives. Hanging lamps in Miami skyscrapers swayed, leading some confused office workers to believe their lunches may have made them ill.

At 2:10 p.m., a strong earthquake struck about six miles beneath the surface in the open water between Jamaica and Cuba with more force than the 2010 earthquake that devastated Haiti, a quake that occurred only 15 miles away from Port-au Prince. Tuesday’s earthquake struck along the border between Caribbean and North American tectonic plates, a crack that stretches from Hispañola to Guatemala.

Read more at news partner the Miami Herald.

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