It was centered 139 kilometers (86 miles) northwest of Montego Bay, Jamaica, and 140 kilometers (87 miles) west-southwest of Niquero, Cuba. It hit at 2:10 p.m. (1910 GMT) and the epicenter was a relatively shallow 10 kilometers (6 miles) beneath the surface.
There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.
The quake could be felt strongly in Santiago, the largest far-eastern Cuban city, said Belkis Guerrero, who works in a Catholic cultural center in the center of Santiago.
βWe were all sitting and we felt the chairs move,β she said. βWe heard the noise of everything moving around.β
She said there was no apparent damage in the heart of the colonial city.
βIt felt very strong but it doesnβt look like anything happened,β³ she told The Associated Press.
The quake also hit the Cayman Islands, leaving cracked roads and what appeared to be sewage spilling from cracked mains. There were no immediate reports of deaths, injuries or more severe damage, said Kevin Morales, editor-in-chief of the Cayman Compass newspaper.
The islands see so few earthquakes that newsroom staff were puzzled when it hit, he said.
β³βIt was just like a big dump truck was rolling past,ββ Morales said. βThen it continued and got more intense.β
The USGS initially reported the magnitude at 7.3.
