text: One of the strongest earthquakes to hit the Caribbean in modern times struck off the coast of Honduras on Tuesday night, shaking the mainland and setting off tsunami warnings that were cancelled about an hour later. 
   
   There were no early reports of serious damage or casualties on land after the quake struck shortly before 10 p.m. ET. Officials in Honduras said shaking was registered across much of the nation and there were some reports of cracks in homes in Colon and Atlantida provinces along the northern coast and Olancho in eastern Honduras. 
   
   A magnitude 7.6 earthquake struck in the Caribbean Sea between the coast of Honduras and the Cayman Islands on Tuesday night. (Google) 
   
   Tsunami centres issued advisories and warnings for Puerto Rico, the Cayman Islands, Cuba, Jamaica and other Caribbean islands as well as on the coasts of Mexico and Central America, cautioning that sea levels could rise from 30 centimetres to a metre above normal, but no tsunami materialized. 
   
   The U.S. Geological Survey measured the quake at a preliminary magnitude of 7.6. The tremor struck in the sea about 202 kilometres north-northeast of Barra Patuca, Honduras, and 303 kilometres southwest of George Town, Cayman Islands. The tremor occurred about 10 kilometres below the surface. 
   
   Sparsely populated area 
   
   The northern coast of Honduras closest to the quake's epicentre is sparsely populated, with much of it covered by nature reserves. The tremor was about 44 kilometres east of Honduras's Swan Islands, which are unpopulated except for a small navy post. 
   
   Tuesday's quake was one of the largest to hit the Caribbean in recorded history. The 2010 quake that devastated Haiti was magnitude 7.0. 
   
   CBC meteorologist Johanna Wagstaffe said given its power the quake was in "an amazingly good spot," in the waters between Honduras and Cuba. 
   
   "Any closer to either country and shaking would have been much worse," she said. ||||| TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) — One of the strongest earthquakes to hit the Caribbean in modern times struck off the coast of Honduras on Tuesday night, shaking the mainland and setting off tsunami warnings that were canceled about an hour later. 
   
   There were no early reports of serious damage or casualties on land after the quake struck shortly before 10 p.m. EST. Officials in Honduras said shaking was registered across much of the nation and there were some reports of cracks in homes in Colon and Atlantida provinces along the northern coast and Olancho in eastern Honduras. 
   
   Tsunami centers issued advisories and warnings for Puerto Rico, the Cayman Islands, Cuba, Jamaica and other Caribbean islands as well as on the coasts of Mexico and Central America, cautioning that sea levels could rise from a foot to 3 feet (0.3 to 1 meter) above normal, but no tsunami materialized. 
   
   The U.S. Geological Survey measured the quake at a preliminary magnitude of 7.6. The tremor struck in the sea about 125 miles (202 kilometers) north-northeast of Barra Patuca, Honduras, and 188 miles (303 kilometers) southwest of George Town, Cayman Islands. The tremor occurred about 6 miles (10 kilometers) below the surface. 
   
   The northern coast of Honduras closest to the quake's epicenter is sparsely populated, with much of it covered by nature reserves. The tremor was about 25 miles (44 kilometers) east of Honduras' Swan Islands, which are unpopulated except for a small navy post. 
   
   Tuesday's quake was one of the largest to hit the Caribbean in recorded history. The 2010 quake that devastated Haiti was magnitude 7.0. ||||| <img class="styles__noscript__2rw2y" src="https://dsx.weather.com/util/image/w/quake-1918.jpg?v=at&w=485&h=273&api=7db9fe61-7414-47b5-9871-e17d87b8b6a0" srcset="https://dsx.weather.com/util/image/w/quake-1918.jpg?v=at&w=485&h=273&api=7db9fe61-7414-47b5-9871-e17d87b8b6a0 400w, https://dsx.weather.com/util/image/w/quake-1918.jpg?v=ap&w=980&h=551&api=7db9fe61-7414-47b5-9871-e17d87b8b6a0 800w" > 
   
   A 7.6 magnitude earthquake struck the Caribbean Sea Tuesday night, and although the U.S. Tsunami Warning Center issued advisories for Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, overnight impacts were minimal. 
   
   The tremor struck at 9:51 p.m. EST just over 25 miles from the coast of Great Swan Island, Honduras, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. It had a depth of 6.2 miles. 
   
   In Central America, the quake caused no injuries or notable damage. The region closest to the earthquake's epicenter – especially the Swan Islands – is largely unpopulated. 
   
   (MORE: Southern California Mudslides Kill at Least 13 ) 
   
   Shortly after the tremor, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said a damaging tsunami wave could impact the coasts of Central American nations, Jamaica, Cuba and the Cayman Islands, but no large waves were reported. There was never a tsunami threat to the U.S. mainland. 
   
   "It felt like a bulldozer was driving past ," Rodrigo Anaya Rodriguez, a resident along Mexico's Caribbean coast, told Reuters. "It didn't last long but was very violent." 
   
   In Honduras, President Juan Orlando Hernandez tweeted that the country's emergency system was activated, and he asked residents to stay calm. 
   
   This was one of the strongest tremors to strike the Caribbean Sea in recorded history. In the wake of the main earthquake, at least six aftershocks magnitude 4 or greater were reported in the hours that followed. ||||| Earlier tsunami threat to Puerto Rico and the US and British Virgin Islands is cancelled after powerful and shallow quake 
   
   An earthquake of magnitude 7.6 that struck in the Caribbean sea on Tuesday was felt across northern Central America, briefly prompting a tsunami warning for disaster-hit Puerto Rico and the British and US Virgin Islands. 
   
   
   
   The US Tsunami Center later cancelled the alert but warned some parts of Honduras and Belize were still at risk from waves of up to a metre. 
   
   A new challenge looms for British Virgin Islands: how to clean up hurricane mess Read more 
   
   The quake – which hit at 10.52pm local time – rattled windows in the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa roughly 323 miles (519km) to the east and was felt at least as far north as the Mexican state of Quintana Roo, but no damage was immediately reported. 
   
   Rodrigo Anaya Rodriguez was in a hammock inside his house near popular tourist site Bacalar Lake on Mexico’s Caribbean coast in Quintana Roo when he felt three tremors. “It felt like a bulldozer was driving past,” he said. “It didn’t last long but was very violent.” He ran to his balcony and saw electricity posts and cables swaying. 
   
   In Honduras, firefighters said some residents in southern neighborhoods fled their homes after feeling the tremors. “We have reports that it was felt in the majority of the country, but we don’t have reports of damage,” said Lizandro Rosales, director of Honduras’ contingencies commission. 
   
   The US Geological Survey said the quake, initially reported as a magnitude 7.8, was centered 125 miles (202km) north-east of Barra Patuca in Honduras and 191 miles (307km) south-west of George Town in the Cayman Islands. 
   
   The quake was very shallow, at only 6.2 miles (10km), which would have amplified its effect. It was lightly felt in Belize’s former capital, Belize City, but did not prompt immediate reports of damage. 
   
   Belize’s minister in charge of emergency management, Edmond Castro, spoke on local radio to urge people living in low lying coastal areas and islands to stay alert for potentially dangerous waves. 
   
   • This article was amended on 11 January 2018 because Belize City is Belize’s former capital, not capital as an earlier version said.
target: – A massive 7.6 magnitude earthquake struck in the Caribbean Sea Tuesday night—but there were no immediate reports of injuries or major damage after what was one of the strongest earthquakes on record in the region. The US Geological Survey says the quake hit 25 miles off the coast of Honduras' unpopulated Great Swan Island at a relatively shallow depth of 6.2 miles, Weather.com reports. Tsunami warnings were issued for the Caribbean coasts of Mexico and Central America as well as islands including Puerto Rico and Cuba, but they were called off after about an hour, the AP reports. The quake—stronger than the 7.0 quake that devastated Haiti in 2010—could be felt more than 300 miles away in Tegucigalpa, the Honduran capital, but officials haven't reported more damage than cracks to homes in northern provinces. "It felt like a bulldozer was driving past," Rodrigo Anaya Rodriguez tells the Guardian from his home in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo. "It didn't last long but was very violent." CBC meteorologist Johanna Wagstaffe says the quake hit an "amazingly good spot" in the sea between Honduras and Cuba. Given its size, she says, there would have been a lot more damage if it had been closer to either country.