
A huge 7.7-magnitude earthquake hit the Caribbean on Tuesday between Jamaica and Cuba, leaving a trail of destruction and sparking a brief tsunami alert, with evacuations throughout the region.

The tremors were felt as far as the US mainland, where police in Miami evacuated some buildings as a precaution.

No deaths or injuries have been reported and the extent of the damage is still emerging as new images show massive sinkholes opened up on roads in the Cayman Islands and residents say what appears to be sewage is spilling out of broken pipes.

The US Geological Survey said the quake hit at a depth of six miles at 2:10 pm (1910 GMT) - 78 miles northwest of Lucea, Jamaica.

Hours later, a 6.1 magnitude aftershock hit off the coast of the Cayman Islands, part of a cluster of more than a dozen aftershocks which were mainly in the four-to-five magnitude range and lasted well into the evening, the USGS said.

A massive 7.7-magnitude earthquake in the Caribbean triggered a tsunami warning in several countries including Jamaica, Cuba and the Cayman Islands on Tuesday

The quake struck at 2.10pm EST in the strait between Jamaica and Cuba. Its epicenter was about 72 miles northwest of Lucea, Jamaica, and 87 miles southwest of Niquero, Cuba, at a depth of 6.2 miles, according to the US Geological Survey

Broken bottles are seen scattered across the cracked floor at a store in Georgetown, Cayman Islands, after the quake hit

People in the Cayman Islands reported that what appeared to be sewage was spilling into the streets from broken pipes

Gaping holes are seen in a golf course and on a beach in Georgetown after the earthquake struck roughly 155 miles away

The US Pacific Tsunami Warning Center initially warned there was a threat of tsunami waves reaching 0.3 to one meter (about one to three feet) above tide level for the coasts of Jamaica, Belize, Cuba, Honduras, Mexico and the Cayman Islands. But it lifted the alert update about two hours later.

The first, bigger quake rattled several tall buildings in the Cuban capital Havana, which were immediately evacuated.

The earthquake was felt in several provinces including Guantanamo and Santiago de Cuba in the east, Cienfuegos in the center and Havana in the northwest, the official Cubadebate website reported.

But there were no preliminary reports of damage or injuries.

Jawara Rawjers, a resident of Kingston, Jamaica told AFP: 'I felt the house trembling and realized that it was a quake.

'It lasted about 20 seconds. I checked my watch and it was 2:12 pm. I checked on my family but they didn't feel anything in their part of the house.'

Machel Emanuel, a doctor in the same city, added: 'I was on the second floor of a building and there was a sustained shaking of the building. I felt dizzy. The door was slamming consistently for a while.'

Many Jamaicans took to social media in the immediate aftermath to post pictures, unverified by AFP, of swimming pools shaking violently.

In Miami, police said buildings were being evacuated as a precaution after reports of tremors being felt in some areas of the city.

Workers are seen outside the Lonja del Comercio building in Havana, Cuba, after the quake hit

The quake was felt as far away as Miami, where several downtown skyscrapers were evacuated

Claude Diedrick, 71, who owns a fencing business in Montego Bay, Jamaica, about 86 miles southeast of the epicenter, told AP he was sitting in his vehicle reading when the earth began to sway.

'It felt to me like i was on a bridge and like there were two or three heavy trucks and the bridge was rocking but there were no trucks,' he said.

Diedrick said he had not seen any serious damage in the area.

Strong shaking was reported in Santiago, the largest city in eastern Cuba.

'We were all sitting and we felt the chairs move,' Belkis Guerrero, who work's at a Catholic cultural center in the heart of Santiago, told AP. 'We heard the noise of everything moving around.'

Guerrero said there was no apparent damage in the center of the colonial city.

'It felt very strong but it doesn't look like anything happened,' she said.

People in Miami are seen leaving work after buildings in Miami were evacuated

Miami residents remained outside buildings as they waited for permission to head back in after the quake

The Cayman Islands Disaster Management Agency warned citizens who are near the shore to 'evacuate vertically' as a precaution.

Tremors felt on the island, which sits about 155 miles from the epicenter, reportedly left cracks in the road and what appeared to be sewage spilling from cracked mains.

Dr Stenette Davis, a psychiatrist at a Cayman Islands hospital, told AP she had seen manhole covers blown off by the force of the quake and sewage exploding into the street, but no more serious damage.

USGS initially reported that the earthquake was a 7.3, but it was upgraded after people as far as Miami, Florida, said they felt tremors.

The epicenter was directly on the Cayman Trough, which is part of the Gonave plate.

It was relatively shallow at about six miles below the surface of the ocean, prompting fears of damage as shallower quakes tend to be more destructive.

If the magnitude of 7.7 is confirmed, it would be the largest since an 8.0 quake in Peru that killed two people and injured 30 last May.