The National Seismological Research Service of Cuba recorded a Magnitude 6.1 Earthquake at a depth of 9 km, about 35 km off the south coast of Cuba at about 1.00 am local time (about 6.00 am GMT) on Monday 23 December 2024. The event was felt across eastern Cuba, Jamaica, and the Cayman Islands, and while there are no reports of any injuries, minor damage to buildings has been reported from across eastern Cuba, and several roads were blocked by landslides triggered by the Earthquake.
Cuba lies on the southern portion of the North American Plate, to the north of the Septentrional Fault Zone, which forms the boundary with the Gonâve Microplate, a small tectonic plate underlying northern Jamaica and most of the island of Hispaniola. The Gonâve Microplate is moving east relative to the North American Plate, pushed by the Mid-Cayman Spreading centre to the west of Jamaica.
To the south the Gonâve Microplate is separated from the Caribbean Plate by the Enriquilo-Plantain Garden Fault Zone, which runs across Southern Haiti and the Dominican Republic. To the west the fault runs through central Jamaica. The Caribbean Plate is rotating clockwise, effectively moving east relative to the Gonâve Microplate.
None of these movements are smooth, with rock formations at the boundaries of the plates constantly sticking together then breaking apart as the pressure from the plate movement builds up, triggering Earthquakes in the process.
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