The shaking did not last long, but it was enough to empty offices, schools, and shopping centers across parts of the Yucatán Peninsula. A Caribbean earthquake near western Cuba sent a rare tremor through Cancún, Chetumal, Playa del Carmen, and Mérida on Monday, prompting authorities to conduct quick building inspections and tsunami assessments. The first reports brought confusion. The official updates that followed gave a clearer picture of what happened, where it was felt, and why Mexico’s coast stayed out of danger.
Caribbean earthquake reaches the peninsula
People in Cancún felt the floor move shortly after 1 p.m. Monday. In parts of the Yucatán Peninsula, the motion was light enough to be confusing at first, then strong enough to empty offices, schools, shopping centers, and municipal buildings.
The shaking came from a magnitude 6.1 earthquake off western Cuba. The U.S. Geological Survey placed the reviewed event 104 kilometers west-northwest of Mantua, Cuba, at a depth of 10 kilometers, according to its reviewed event page. Early regional updates had listed a higher preliminary magnitude before the figure was adjusted.
Cancún, Playa del Carmen, Chetumal, and Mérida all had reports of movement. People described swaying lamps, vibrating doors, and a brief rolling sensation in taller buildings. Those reports were enough to trigger civil-protection protocols in parts of Quintana Roo and Yucatán, even though authorities later said the checks had not found any major damage.
Cancún checks buildings and keeps airport running
In Cancún, the Benito Juárez municipal government said the quake was felt after 1 p.m. and that emergency and evacuation protocols were activated in public and private spaces. Pablo Gutiérrez Fernández, the city’s secretary general, said Protección Civil Municipal confirmed the event near Cuba and found no disruption to daily activity in the municipality, according to the Benito Juárez update.
The city said the Cancún International Airport continued to operate normally, with no suspension of activities or flight disruptions. CFE and Aguakan also reported no interruptions to electricity or water service. Hotel and nautical associations told the municipality they had not detected incidents in the tourism zone or maritime facilities, though officials noted the possibility of increased swell.
The Palacio Municipal was evacuated shortly after 1 p.m. Protección Civil staff inspected offices and public areas before workers returned. Similar preventive evacuations took place in shopping centers, hotels, schools, and other crowded places, the city said.
In Chetumal, the shaking also caused people to leave buildings. A local account from Chetumal said workers at the state government palace applied protocols and left the building within minutes, with no injuries or material damage reported.
Yucatán says reviews found no severe damage
Yucatán’s state civil-protection agency, Procivy, also activated safety and monitoring protocols after the movement reached several points of the peninsula. Hernán Hernández, the agency’s director, said authorities were working with federal and municipal officials while crews reviewed vulnerable zones.
“Through the National Civil Protection Network, we have received very specific information. And well, no severe damage has been reported to us so far,” Hernández said in a Yucatán civil-protection update.
That same update said evacuations in Yucatán happened calmly and without panic. Hernández also explained why the state’s seismic alert did not sound. “The seismic alert is not activated because it is not in national earthquake zones and it is not an earthquake that represents any issue of great magnitude,” he said.
The Caribbean quake came on the same day that the National Seismological Service recorded a magnitude 4.2 earthquake near Ticul, Yucatán. That smaller local event rattled nerves because earthquakes are less common in the region than on Mexico’s Pacific coast.
Mexico rules out a tsunami risk
The Secretaría de Marina, through the Centro de Alerta de Tsunamis, ruled out a tsunami threat for Mexico’s coasts after reviewing the quake’s location, magnitude, and depth.
“No tsunami is expected to affect the coasts of Mexico,” the agency said in its tsunami-risk statement.
The conclusion matched updates from U.S. tsunami monitors, which said the earthquake was not expected to generate a tsunami. In Mexico, that meant no coastal evacuation order, even as inspections continued in buildings and public infrastructure.
The quake also reached Florida, where shaking was felt across parts of the state. In Cuba, it shook buildings in Havana and western areas, with no immediate reports of deaths or major damage from the first public accounts.
The episode adds another entry to a busy year of seismic alerts and coastal monitoring in Mexico. Earlier coverage looked at a Mexico quake that triggered sirens in CDMX and a separate Puerto Vallarta tsunami alert after a Pacific earthquake. Monday’s event was different because the origin was in the Caribbean, and the strongest response in Mexico came from verification work rather than emergency damage control.
Cancún’s municipal government asked people to follow official channels and report any incident to 911.
