Banks Evacuate Workers in Downtown Miami After Caribbean Quake

(Bloomberg) -- U.S. banks and other firms evacuated employees from Miami’s financial district after a major earthquake between Cuba and Jamaica.

Miami residents reported feeling tremors after the magnitude 7.7 earthquake. Workers streamed out of the Bank of America building at 701 Brickell Ave. and the nearby Wells Fargo Center in downtown Miami, and yellow caution tape blocked re-entry to the BofA tower.

“Everybody felt it in the top floors,” said Juan Arango, 40, who works for Wells Fargo & Co. “To feel a tremor in Miami is unheard of.”

The quake struck at 2:10 p.m. Miami time between Cuba and Jamaica, with an epicenter 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) beneath the surface, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Tsunami waves reaching up to 1 meter above the tide level are possible for some coasts of Belize, Cuba, Honduras, Mexico, Cayman Islands and Jamaica, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said in an alert.

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