QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.0Md

70 km NE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic

Yes. A magnitude 3.0 earthquake was recorded 70 km NE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, at 3:21 am AST on 17 October 2016 (07:21 UTC), 41 km deep.

· 41 km deep · released about 950 lb of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N Aguadilla Municipio 92 kmRincón Municipio 94 kmAguada Municipio 96 kmMayagüez Municipio 97 kmIsabela Municipio 103 kmMoca Municipio 104 kmAñasco Municipio 107 kmQuebradillas Municipio 112 kmSan Sebastián Municipio 117 km
Distance rings around the epicentre, with the nearest towns at their true direction and later quakes as coloured dots. Not a shaking map — see the USGS ShakeMap for that.
When
Magnitude
M 3.0 (Md)
Depth
41 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Aguadilla Municipio, 92 km SE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 3588 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage.

At this magnitude and depth it was probably too small to be felt, even directly above it. Estimated from magnitude, depth and distance with the intensity equation USGS Did You Feel It? uses; felt reports, where there are any, are the measurement.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 950 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.0 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 350,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 16,000× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 11,000× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 3.0 about 950 lb of TNT

Energy from the Gutenberg–Richter relation (log10E = 1.5M + 4.8), rounded to two figures; bar length is magnitude, which is already a logarithm of energy. Magnitudes of past earthquakes from the USGS catalogue.

Where

Epicentre 18.9528, -67.8591. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Aguadilla Municipio, PR 92 km (57 mi) SE earthquakes near Aguadilla Municipio
Rincón Municipio, PR 94 km (58 mi) SE earthquakes near Rincón Municipio
Aguada Municipio, PR 96 km (59 mi) SE earthquakes near Aguada Municipio
Mayagüez Municipio, PR 97 km (60 mi) S earthquakes near Mayagüez Municipio
Isabela Municipio, PR 103 km (64 mi) ESE earthquakes near Isabela Municipio
Moca Municipio, PR 104 km (65 mi) SE earthquakes near Moca Municipio

Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.

Aftershocks so far

30 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.

  1. 3.0 57 km E of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
  2. 3.2 84 km NE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
  3. 3.0 90 km NW of San Antonio, Puerto Rico
  4. 2.8 67 km NE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
  5. 3.4 38 km NE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
  6. 3.0 85 km NE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
  7. 3.1 66 km NNE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
  8. 3.0 78 km NNE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
  9. 3.0 86 km NW of San Antonio, Puerto Rico
  10. 3.8 57 km NNE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
  11. 3.0 49 km NW of San Antonio, Puerto Rico
  12. 3.4 102 km NNE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
  13. 3.2 94 km NNE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
  14. 3.1 59 km NNE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
  15. 3.4 40 km NE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of . QuakeIndex does not forecast aftershocks. When USGS issues an operational aftershock forecast it appears on the USGS event page.

On USGS

QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.