The magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck Tuesday afternoon, with the epicenter about 6 miles beneath the surface, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
The 29-story Stephen P. Clark Center, the home of Miami-Dade County’s municipal government daily operations, was evacuated, according to Miami-Dade police. So were some buildings in the Brickell area, according to Miami police.
Miami police also said there were no injuries or road closures reported.
Social media posts showed people outside other downtown skyscrapers after they felt the impact.
Lawyer Eli Stiers was in his office at the penthouse of Museum Tower, 150 W. Flagler St., across from the Miami Dade Cultural Center. Around 2:20 p.m. or so, he felt something strange.
“I’m sitting my office and started to feel a very slight sway,” Stiers said. “I didn’t know whether I had some bad sushi for lunch or what. But then I looked at my office door and saw it teetering on its hinges. I asked people in the office if they felt it. When people stopped for a second and registered what was going on, they said yes, the building is moving.”
They called the building manager, who had also felt the tremor. An evacuation of the building was ordered.
“We said, ‘Let’s get out of the building.’ We all went downstairs. We didn’t know whether it was an earthquake or a sinkhole or what.
The quaking lasted two to three minutes, Stiers said.
A short while later, the fire marshal gave an all clear and everyone went back to work.
“It’s crazy that we would feel this that far away,” Stiers said of the 7.7-magnitude quake.
Workers in the Biscayne Building on Flagler Street reported feeling the building sway, some wondering if they’d gotten sick.
Miami Mayor Francis Suarez said city officials felt the quake in the city’s emergency operations facility, located a short walk away from the county government center. The center was already operating due to the influx of visitors for Super Bowl 54, which will be played Sunday at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens. The players of the San Franscisco 49ers, no strangers to earthquakes, are staying at the JW Marriott Marquis downtown.
“We have inspectors ready for property owners who want to make sure the integrity of their buildings have not been compromised,” Suarez told the Miami Herald.
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