QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.6Md

Earthquake near El Negro, PR

No earthquake was likely felt in El Negro in the 24 hours to 6:07 am AST (10:07 UTC). The last one was M 2.2, 7 km (5 mi) SSE, at 2:59 pm AST on 4 November 2026, estimated intensity II (weak) in town. Every earthquake near El Negro

This page: a magnitude 1.6 earthquake was recorded 12 km (7 mi) east of El Negro, PR, at 10:38 am AST on 11 November 2016 (14:38 UTC), 46 km deep.

USGS: 11 km E of El Negro, Puerto Rico

53 km (33 mi) SE of San Juan, PR · 38 km (24 mi) ESE of Caguas, PR

10:38 am AST, Nov 11, 2016 · · 46 km deep · released about 7.6 lb of TNT

Every earthquake near El Negro Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Humacao Municipio 11 kmYabucoa Municipio 13 kmMaunabo Municipio 17 kmNaguabo Municipio 19 kmLas Piedras Municipio 21 kmCeiba Municipio 26 kmPatillas Municipio 27 kmJuncos Municipio 27 kmSan Lorenzo Municipio 28 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
10:38 am AST on 11 November 2016 ()
Where
12 km (7 mi) east of El Negro, PR · earthquakes near El Negro
Magnitude
M 1.6 (Md)
Depth
46 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Humacao Municipio, 11 km NNW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 3652 days ago

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

At this magnitude and depth it was probably too small to be felt, even directly above it. In El Negro, 12 km away, the estimate is intensity I (not felt). 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.

Earthquakes near other towns within 30 km: Comunas, Candelero Arriba, Bajandas, Punta Santiago, Yabucoa, Humacao.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 7.6 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.6 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,000,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,400,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 130× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.6 about 7.6 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.

For this area

The largest earthquake within 50 km since 2016 was M 4.3 on 2016-09-02 — about 11,000 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists one earthquake of M5 or more within 50 km:

  1. 5.1 3 km W of Aguas Buenas, Puerto Rico · 48 km WNW of this epicentre

Since 2016: the QuakeIndex catalogue (US, M1.5+), built from the USGS FDSN event service. Before 2016: USGS ComCat, M5+ from 1900. Distances are between epicentres. This is the record, not a forecast.

Where

Epicentre 18.0436, -65.7382. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Humacao Municipio, PR 11 km (7 mi) NNW earthquakes near Humacao Municipio
Yabucoa Municipio, PR 13 km (8 mi) W earthquakes near Yabucoa Municipio
Maunabo Municipio, PR 17 km (11 mi) WSW earthquakes near Maunabo Municipio
Naguabo Municipio, PR 19 km (12 mi) N earthquakes near Naguabo Municipio
Las Piedras Municipio, PR 21 km (13 mi) NW earthquakes near Las Piedras Municipio
Ceiba Municipio, PR 26 km (16 mi) NNE earthquakes near Ceiba Municipio

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.9 6 km NE of Vieques, Puerto Rico
  2. 2.4 17 km SSE of Esperanza, Puerto Rico
  3. 2.0 15 km SE of Punta Santiago, Puerto Rico
  4. 2.4 27 km SE of El Negro, Puerto Rico
  5. 2.1 14 km SE of Esperanza, Puerto Rico
  6. 2.5 30 km SSW of Esperanza, Puerto Rico
  7. 3.0 28 km SE of El Negro, Puerto Rico
  8. 1.7 29 km SE of El Negro, Puerto Rico
  9. 2.7 10 km S of Emajagua, Puerto Rico
  10. 1.9 27 km SE of El Negro, Puerto Rico
  11. 2.2 28 km SE of El Negro, Puerto Rico
  12. 1.7 21 km ESE of El Negro, Puerto Rico
  13. 1.8 6 km ESE of Comunas, Puerto Rico
  14. 1.5 2 km SE of Punta Santiago, Puerto Rico
  15. 2.0 3 km NE of Benitez, Puerto Rico

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.