How rare are earthquakes in Florida?

WESH TWO NEWS STARTS NOW WITH BREAKING NEWS. THAT BREAKING NEWS. A MAJOR EARTHQUAKE OFF THE COAST OF CUBA LEADS TO REPORTS OF SHAKING ALL ACROSS CENTRAL FLORIDA, AND THE FIRST WARNING WEATHER TEAM HAS NOW CONFIRMED THAT THIS IS THE LARGEST EARTHQUAKE TO HIT THIS CLOSE TO FLORIDA IN RECORDED HISTORY. AS OF RIGHT NOW, THE. REGISTERED AS A 6.1 ABOUT 65 MILES TO THE WEST NORTHWEST OF MANTUA, CUBA, THAT IS WEST OF HAVANA. WE HAVE TEAM COVERAGE THIS AFTERNOON WITH OFFICE BUILDINGS AND APARTMENT BUILDINGS BEING EVACUATED, AND EVEN THEME PARKS POSSIBLY IMPACTED. LET’S START WITH FIRST WARNING. CHIEF METEOROLOGIST TONY MAINOLFI WITH THE LATEST ON WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT THIS EARTHQUAKE. TONY, LET’S DO THAT HERE RIGHT NOW. AND IF YOU’RE JUST GETTING HOME FROM WORK RIGHT AROUND 2:00 THIS AFTERNOON, WE HAD AN EARTHQUAKE THAT OCCURRED OFF THE WESTERN TIP THERE OF CUBA. WHEN YOU LOOK AT THE MAGNITUDE THERE, 6.1, WHEN I SAW THAT NUMBER, IT ALMOST FLOORED ME WHEN I WAS DRIVING ON IT. THAT IS A VERY POWERFUL EARTHQUAKE. WHEN YOU LOOK AT THE MAGNITUDE SCALE HERE, THAT GOES UP TO EIGHT OR HIGHER. THIS IS A MODERATE EARTHQUAKE THAT DID OCCUR THERE IN THE SOUTH SOUTHEASTERN PORTIONS THERE OF THE GULF OF MEXICO. HAD IT BEEN CLOSER TO, LET’S SAY, CANCUN OR ON THE NORTHWESTERN TIP THERE OF CUBA, THERE WOULD HAVE BEEN DAMAGED. NOW LET’S GET BACK TO THAT TOP STORY. AS FAR AS WE CAN TELL. AND THERE’S SO MUCH DATA YOU HAVE TO LOOK AT. THIS IS PROBABLY AT THE TOP, IF NOT THE STRONGEST MAGNITUDE EARTHQUAKE CLOSEST TO FLORIDA. SINCE RECORDS HAVE BEEN TAKEN. AND YOU GOT TO GO BACK TO THE MID 1800S. THE LAST TIME WE HAD AN EPICENTER IN THE STATE OF FLORIDA, YOU GO BACK TO THAT 4.4 IN PALATKA ON THE MARION COUNTY LINE OVER THERE YOU GO BACK TO 1879. SO THIS IS A BIG DEAL TODAY. THAT’S WHY A LOT OF PEOPLE FELT IT. IT DOESN’T COMPARE TO THE 9.5 CHILE IN 1960 OR THE ALASKA 9.2 OR THE SUMATRA, INDONESIA 9.1, WHERE TSUNAMIS ARE A BIG DEAL BECAUSE OF THE WAY THE OCEAN LANDSCAPE IS KIND OF PUT TOGETHER, AS IS THE CASE THERE IN JAPAN, THAT 9.0 IN 2011 AND THEN RUSSIA JUST A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO. SO CAM A LOT OF HISTORY WE’VE DELVED THROUGH HERE TODAY, BUT THE GOOD NEWS IS IT DOESN’T LOOK LIKE THERE’S GOING TO BE A TSUNAMI WARNING HERE IN CENTRAL FLORIDA. THAT IS DEFINITELY THE GOOD NEWS. AS WE TAKE A LOOK AT THE ADVISORIES ACROSS OUR AREA, THERE ARE NONE IN TERMS OF ANY TYPICALLY, WHEN YOU HAVE A SHALLOW EARTHQUAKE, WHICH IS WHAT THIS IS, IT’S ABOUT 21 MILES DEEP, WHICH IS CONSIDERED MAY SOUND DEEP, BUT IT’S CONSIDERED GEOLOGICALLY A SHALLOW EARTHQUAKE. ANYTHING BELOW ABOUT 41 MILES DEEP IS CONSIDERED SHALLOW. OFTENTIMES YOU COULD GET A TSUNAMI, BUT THANKFULLY THAT IS NOT THE CASE AT THE MOMENT WITH THIS EARTHQUAKE. SO I WANT TO SHOW YOU SOMETHING THAT’S CALLED THE SHAKE SCALE. THIS IS COMPLETELY DIFFERENT FROM WHAT TONY SHOWED YOU, WHICH IS THE MOMENT MAGNITUDE SCALE IS 6.1 IN TERMS OF THE SHAKING, THE STRONGEST SHAKING FROM THIS EARTHQUAKE IS A LEVEL FIVE, WHICH IS MODERATE SHAKING. BUT I WANT TO SHOW YOU, WE GOT NUMEROUS REPORTS OF EVEN WEAK AND LIGHT SHAKING FROM THIS EARTHQUAKE. SO EVERY BLUE DOT THAT YOU SEE HERE AS OUR EXECUTIVE PRODUCER, JASON OLSON, KIND OF ZOOMS IN, IS A REPORT OF SOME SHAKING. IF YOU HONE IN ON CENTRAL FLORIDA, LOOK AT THE DOZENS OF REPORTS IN THIS AREA. HE’S GOING TO CLICK ON 1 OR 2 TO SHOW YOU THE LEVEL OF SHAKING HERE. SO WHEN YOU SEE THAT CLICK ON THE BLUE, THERE’S A 1 OR 2 THAT LOOKS LIKE TO BE A TWO. SO THAT WAS SOME WEAK SHAKING EVEN HERE IN CENTRAL FLORIDA. SO YES, THIS EARTHQUAKE WAS DISTANCE WISE, FAR AWAY, BUT THE SHAKING COULD BE FELT AS FAR NORTH AS EVEN. WE’VE GOT REPORTS IN NORTH FLORIDA AS WELL. SO THAT’S THE LATEST ON THIS EARTHQUAKE. WE’LL SEND IT BACK TO YOU GUYS AND CAM IN DOWNTOWN ORLANDO. WE’RE HEARING REPORTS OF AN OFFICE BUILDING BEING EVACUATED. FIRST, METEOROLOGIST VICTORIA WISNIEWSKI IS LIVE FROM THE REGIONS BUILDING. VICTORIA, WHAT DO WE KNOW? YEAH. GOOD AFTERNOON GUYS. WE ARE OUTSIDE THE REGIONS BUILDING. THAT’S ACTUALLY TO THE CORNER OVER HERE ON MY LEFT. IT IS NEAR THE NORTH ORANGE AVE. AND THIS BUILDING WAS ONE OF THE ONES THAT WAS EVACUATED. THEIR EMPLOYEES WERE TOLD TO ACTUALLY GO HOME FOR THE REST OF THE DAY IN ORDER TO FINISH UP THEIR WORK. AND NOW WE’VE BEEN WALKING AROUND HERE TRYING TO FIND SOME RESIDENTS WHO MAY HAVE FELT SOME OF THE SHAKING. A COUPLE OF THE BARS ON THE STREET DIDN’T ACTUALLY FEEL ANYTHING. BUT THEN I CAME ACROSS ONE OF THESE RESIDENTS HERE, DARIUS, YOU LIVE ABOUT TWO BLOCKS AWAY FROM THE REGION’S BUILDING. WHAT DID YOU FEEL THIS AFTERNOON? AT FIRST IT WAS JUST A LITTLE RUMBLE. I DIDN’T THINK IT WAS NOTHING TOO MUCH, BUT I WAS SHOCKED TO KNOW THAT IT WAS AN EARTHQUAKE. DEFINITELY. AND WHEN YOU FIRST HEARD THAT, WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST INSTINCTS? MY FIRST INSTINCT WAS THAT MAYBE IT WAS A U-HAUL TRUCK OR A BIG TRUCK COMING UP THE GARAGE. I LIVE IN AN APARTMENT, BUT ONCE I WENT OUTSIDE AND I SAW NOBODY OUT THERE KIND OF RAISED SOME QUESTIONS AND SOME EYEBROWS. AND THEN WHAT DID YOU END UP DOING AFTER THAT? WHEN I GOT BACK TO THE HOUSE, I KIND OF CHECKED, YOU KNOW, THE COUCH BECAUSE THE COUCH WAS SWAYING A LITTLE BIT. SO I CHECKED THE COUCH. THERE WAS NOTHING THERE. AND I WAS LIKE, MAYBE I’M JUST TRIPPING, YOU KNOW? YEAH, YEAH. AND THEN YOU IMMEDIATELY WENT TO SOCIAL MEDIA AND THEN YOU FOUND OUT FROM SOME OF YOUR FRIENDS AND POTENTIALLY FROM WESH TWO THAT THERE WAS, IN FACT, OF AN EARTHQUAKE AND THAT WAS IN CUBA. HOW DID YOU WHAT’S YOUR REACTION TO BEING SO FAR AWAY FROM US? CUBA IS PRETTY FAR. SO I DON’T KNOW HOW IT REACHED US. THAT MUST HAVE BEEN. I’M PRAYING FOR CUBA BECAUSE THAT MUST HAVE BEEN REALLY ROUGH FOR THEM. YEAH, FOR US TO FEEL IT. BUT YEAH, I WENT ON SOCIAL MEDIA AND ALL MY FRIENDS WAS ASKING, WAS THAT AN EARTHQUAKE? WHAT’S GOING ON? THEN MY GIRL SENT ME THE NEWS ARTICLE, BUT IT WAS IN SPANISH, OF COURSE, BUT AND I READ THE NEWS ARTICLE AND I FOUND OUT THAT IT WAS ACTUALLY CONNECTED TO CUBA. YEAH, ABSOLUTELY. WELL, THANK YOU SO MUCH, DARIUS, FOR BEING ABLE TO SPEAK WITH US. SO AS AGAIN, WE ARE HERE IN DOWNTOWN ORLANDO, NEAR NORTH ORANGE AVE. THE REGION’S BUILDING WAS ONE OF THOSE BUILDINGS THAT WAS EVACUATED. WE’RE GOING TO CONTINUE TO UPDATE YOU THROUGHOUT THE AFTERNOON TO SEE ALL THE REPERCUSSIONS OF WHAT WE FELT HERE IN DOWNTOWN ORLANDO RIGHT NOW, METEOROLOGIST VICTORIA WISNIEWSKI HERE WITH WESH TWO NEWS. WE’LL SEND IT BACK OVER TO YOU GUYS. LAKE COUNTY IS PLAYING IT SAFE AFTER THE QUAKE. A SPOKESPERSON TOLD US COUNTY OFFICES ARE BEING CLOSED OUT OF AN ABUNDANCE OF CAUTION. AND CHOPPER TWO OVER THE THEME PARKS AFTER THAT EARTHQUAKE WAS FELT. SEAWORLD’S APP SHOWED ALMOST EVERY MAJOR RIDE FROM THE SKY TOWER TO PENGUIN TREK AND ALL OF SESAME STREET CLOSED. CHOPPER SPOTTED SOME RIDES BEING TESTED. WE’VE REACHED OUT TO SEAWORLD ABOUT. IF RIDES WERE CLOSED BECAUSE OF THE EARTHQUAKE, BUT WE HAVE NOT YET GOTTEN A COMMENT. SEVERAL BUILDINGS WERE ALSO EVACUATED IN MIAMI. THAT INCLUDES THE MIAMI DADE STEVEN P CLARK GOVERNMENT CENTER AND T