QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.3Md

32 km ESE of Esperanza, Puerto Rico

· 7.0 km deep · released about 85 lb of TNT

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10 km30 km60 km120 km N Vieques Municipio 30 kmCulebra Municipio 40 kmCeiba Municipio 55 kmFajardo Municipio 61 kmNaguabo Municipio 63 kmHumacao Municipio 65 kmLuquillo Municipio 70 kmYabucoa Municipio 72 kmMaunabo Municipio 75 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 2.3 (Md)
Depth
7.0 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Vieques Municipio, 30 km WNW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 3627 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 85 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.3 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 180,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 130,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 11× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.3 about 85 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 17.9864, -65.1869. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Vieques Municipio, PR 30 km (19 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Vieques Municipio
Culebra Municipio, PR 40 km (25 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Culebra Municipio
Ceiba Municipio, PR 55 km (34 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Ceiba Municipio
Fajardo Municipio, PR 61 km (38 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Fajardo Municipio
Naguabo Municipio, PR 63 km (39 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Naguabo Municipio
Humacao Municipio, PR 65 km (41 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Humacao Municipio

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.6 5 km W of Esperanza, Puerto Rico
  2. 2.2 27 km SE of El Negro, Puerto Rico
  3. 2.7 30 km SSW of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  4. 2.4 28 km SE of El Negro, Puerto Rico
  5. 1.5 32 km SSW of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  6. 2.1 32 km SSW of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  7. 2.0 24 km SSW of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  8. 2.2 30 km SSW of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  9. 3.0 24 km SW of Esperanza, Puerto Rico
  10. 2.5 26 km SW of Esperanza, Puerto Rico
  11. 2.3 27 km SW of Esperanza, Puerto Rico
  12. 2.1 Puerto Rico region
  13. 2.9 27 km SW of Esperanza, Puerto Rico
  14. 2.3 28 km SW of Esperanza, Puerto Rico
  15. 2.9 Puerto Rico region

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.

For this area

The largest earthquake within 50 km in our catalogue was M 4.3 on 2016-09-02 — it released about 1,000 times the energy of this one.

From the QuakeIndex catalogue, built from the USGS FDSN event service.

On USGS

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