Minor earthquake shakes western Florida Panhandle

CENTURY, Fla. (FOX 13) - A minor earthquake shook the Florida Panhandle late Wednesday night. The U.S. Geological Survey reports a 2.6 magnitude quake happened at 11:45 p.m. 

The earthquake was centered a few miles east of Century, Florida, which is in Escambia County, just south of the Alabama border.

An earthquake measuring 2.6 on the Richter scale would be in the minor range, just enough to be felt by some people but not strong enough to cause damage.  While there are over a million such quakes each year worldwide, earthquakes in Florida are rare because the state is not near the edge of any tectonic plates.

A 1991 report by University of Florida researchers found no evidence that any Florida-based fault line had ever caused an earthquake.

An event that registered as a 3.7-magnitude earthquake off the Atlantic coast back in 2006 turned out to be an "experimental explosion” by the U.S. Navy. That same year, a magnitude-5.9 earthquake occurred in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico, but no major damage was reported.

FOX 13 reported this story from Tampa.