Honduras quake felt in Yucatán; tsunami warning called off

An earthquake off the coast of Honduras had the Yucatán and Caribbean on edge Tuesday night. Graphic: usgs.gov

Mérida, Yucatán — A 7.6-magnitude Earthquake on the edge of the Yucatán Basin was felt all across the Peninsula.

This is the second time in four months that a distant quake was felt here.

Residents in Mérida — particularly in the Centro and in taller buildings north of the city — as well as Progreso and various other communities, reported feeling the ground shift, but the quake’s epicenter was hundreds of miles away off the coast of Honduras.

Communities on the Caribbean side of the Peninsula were particularly jolted. A resident in Chetumal said the rumble felt as though a large truck was roaring past his home.

The tremor barely lasted a few seconds, but social media lit up shortly before 9 p.m Tuesday.

The quake was one of the largest to hit the Caribbean in recorded history. The 2010 quake that devastated Haiti was magnitude 7.0.

Tsunami warnings were called off an hour after an official notice put dozens of coastal communities and Caribbean islands on guard. Residents in Progreso had raced to the malecón to monitor the tide.

No damage in Yucatán was reported. Even in Honduras, damage was minimal, although cracks were found in some walls.

The northern coast of Honduras closest to the quake’s epicenter is sparsely populated. Much of it is covered by nature reserves.

Sources: Sipse, USA Today, Diario de Yucatán

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