MIAMI.- Authorities are collecting reports from Floridians who felt the shaking of a magnitude 4.0 earthquake off the coast, the National Weather Service, USGS, reported.
The earthquake occurred shortly before 11 p.m. Wednesday about 100 miles east of Cape Canaveral, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
More than 80 reports of shaking were submitted to the USGS, but no serious damage or injuries were reported, officials said.
Earthquakes are relatively rare in Florida and off its coasts, experts say.
“It’s a stable region,” said Paul Earle, a USGS seismologist. “That said, as we just learned, earthquakes can exist, but they are much rarer than in other areas.”
Earthquakes have been felt in Florida before. In September 2006, a magnitude 5.9 earthquake in the Gulf of Mexico was felt in Florida and other states. During that earthquake, items fell off shelves and some Floridians saw waves in their pools during the quake, according to USGS reports. That earthquake was felt throughout the state and even included Texas, Louisiana, Georgia and the Carolinas.
In 1879, an earthquake in northern Florida, believed to be among the strongest in the state’s history, woke residents and knocked kitchen items off their shelves, according to a University of Florida account.
The USGS sometimes receives reports of earthquakes that are later determined to be sonic booms or military tests, Earle said. Most indicators point to Wednesday’s earthquake as a natural earthquake, AP reported.
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