A massive mag 7.7 and a mag 6.1 are very near misses for Jamaica, Cuba and The Cayman Islands (The same fault line which has rocked Puerto Rico with more than 4,000 quakes since Jan 2019)

USGS

No Tsunami Warning, Advisory, Watch, or Threat Has Been Issued.
Two powerful major quakes have rocked the Cayman Isles and Jamaica along both the American and Caribbean tectonic plates last night, it is the same area where more than 2,000 quakes ranging from mag 1 to a mag 6.5 since January the 1st 2020. The massive magnitude 7.7 quake struck between the island of Jamaica and Cuba, the quake was very shallow at 10km deep.

Buildings shook and tremors were felt across the Caribbean, but there were no immediate reports of casualties. Some offices were temporarily evacuated in Miami and parts of Jamaica. Warnings by the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC) were later withdrawn. The PTWC initially said "hazardous tsunami waves" were possible for coasts located within 300km (186 miles) of the earthquake's epicentre. This included parts of Belize, Cuba, Honduras, Mexico, the Cayman Islands and Jamaica, it said. But in an update at around 20:45 GMT, the PTWC said the "tsunami threat had now largely passed". BBC

The other major quake (mag 6 or higher) was a magnitude 6.1 - 57km SE of East End, Cayman Islands, less than a hundred km from the mag 7.7, there have been aftershocks nearby. Last nights earthquakes came along the same faultline as the mag 6.5 rocked Puerto Rico 2 weeks ago where almost 2,500 quakes have struck from mag 1 up to mag 6.5, see USGS map below.

Above, 2,500 quakes have struck from mag 1 up to mag 6.5 in the first month of 2020

What is this? According to USGS, more than 4,000 small to mid-sized quakes, including this month's magnitude 6.5 have rattled the tiny island of Purto Rico since January the 1st 2019.

January 28, 2020, M 7.7 earthquake in the Caribbean Sea to the south of Cuba and northwest of Jamaica occurred as the result of strike-slip faulting on the plate boundary between the North America and Caribbean tectonic plates. Preliminary focal mechanism solutions for the earthquake indicate slip occurred as the result of left-lateral motion on a steep fault striking towards the east-northeast, or as the result of right-lateral motion on a steep fault striking towards the south-southeast. The fault plane striking approximately east-west is consistent with the orientation of the regional plate boundary; this transform structure is named the Oriente Fault. At the location of this earthquake, the North America plate moves to the west-southwest with respect to the Caribbean plate at a rate of approximately 19 mm/yr.

Extensive diversity and complexity of tectonic regimes characterize the perimeter of the Caribbean plate, involving no fewer than four major plates (North America, South America, Nazca, and Cocos). Inclined zones of deep earthquakes (Wadati-Benioff zones), ocean trenches, and arcs of volcanoes clearly indicate subduction of oceanic lithosphere along the Central American and Atlantic Ocean margins of the Caribbean plate, while crustal seismicity in Guatemala, northern Venezuela, and the Cayman Ridge and Cayman Trench indicate transform fault and pull-apart basin tectonics. USGS

Major Quakes 2020

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