Camila Pereira
•6/9/2026
FORT MYERS, Fla. (WINK) — Two days after a rare earthquake off Cuba rattled parts of Southwest Florida, experts say the event stands out not only for its strength but also for how far its effects were felt.
A 6.1 magnitude earthquake reported 60 miles off Cuba's northern coast on Monday was felt across Southwest Florida, prompting numerous reports from residents stretching from Fort Myers to Marco Island and Punta Gorda.
WINK Weather Authority Meteorologist Katie Walls said the quake was unusual because of the way seismic energy traveled through the region. The Gulf is situated on the North American plate, and the United States Geological Survey classified the event as an intraplate earthquake.
"Imagine like a plate of glass, a little bit of a crack right there, and that was just enough to bring us that feeling here in Southwest Florida," Walls said. "This was the strongest earthquake going back to 1950 when records began."
Residents across Southwest Florida described feeling the tremors despite being hundreds of miles from the epicenter.
"It was crazy. I was on the phone and all of a sudden my chair started moving," Porter Lamarche of Fort Myers said.
"It lasted for about maybe eight seconds," Frank DeAngelo of Marco Island said.
"I've never felt anything like that before," Venezio Venturi, a WINK Weather Watcher from Punta Gorda, said.
The earthquake left the potential for aftershocks. Walls said there was a 98% probability that more aftershocks would occur, though they were most likely to be felt in Cuba and not in Southwest Florida.
"Again, this had to be a strong earthquake for us to feel a 6.1, several 100 miles away from us," Walls said.
There was no threat of a tsunami forming and hitting the coast. Christa Von Hillebrandt-Andrade, manager of NOAA's International Tsunami Information Center Caribbean Office, explained why.
"The tsunami hazard in Florida is extremely low...in the Gulf, it's not a problem of depth; that's not the issue. You really don't have many faults that can generate these earthquakes with large displacements," Von Hillebrandt-Andrade said.
Officials continue monitoring conditions in Cuba, but experts say the primary concerns now are localized aftershocks near the epicenter rather than impacts in Southwest Florida.
