QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.6Md

5 km W of Esperanza, Puerto Rico

· 20 km deep · released about 7.6 lb of TNT

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10 km30 km60 km120 km N Vieques Municipio 10 kmCeiba Municipio 20 kmNaguabo Municipio 26 kmHumacao Municipio 28 kmFajardo Municipio 33 kmCulebra Municipio 34 kmYabucoa Municipio 36 kmLuquillo Municipio 36 kmLas Piedras Municipio 38 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 1.6 (Md)
Depth
20 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Vieques Municipio, 10 km ENE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 3601 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 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.

Where

Epicentre 18.0974, -65.5250. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Vieques Municipio, PR 10 km (6 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Vieques Municipio
Ceiba Municipio, PR 20 km (12 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Ceiba Municipio
Naguabo Municipio, PR 26 km (16 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Naguabo Municipio
Humacao Municipio, PR 28 km (17 mi) E of here earthquakes near Humacao Municipio
Fajardo Municipio, PR 33 km (20 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Fajardo Municipio
Culebra Municipio, PR 34 km (21 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Culebra Municipio

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.0 24 km SSW of Esperanza, Puerto Rico
  2. 3.0 10 km S of Emajagua, Puerto Rico
  3. 2.0 8 km S of Emajagua, Puerto Rico
  4. 2.2 10 km S of Emajagua, Puerto Rico
  5. 2.4 11 km S of Emajagua, Puerto Rico
  6. 2.2 10 km S of Emajagua, Puerto Rico
  7. 2.2 8 km S of Emajagua, Puerto Rico
  8. 2.0 7 km WSW of Esperanza, Puerto Rico
  9. 2.4 9 km S of Emajagua, Puerto Rico
  10. 2.4 11 km S of Emajagua, Puerto Rico
  11. 2.1 10 km S of Emajagua, Puerto Rico
  12. 2.0 2 km E of Culebra, Puerto Rico
  13. 1.5 9 km S of Emajagua, Puerto Rico
  14. 1.8 6 km SE of Lamboglia, Puerto Rico
  15. 2.2 7 km SSW of Emajagua, 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.

For this area

The largest earthquake within 50 km in our catalogue was M 4.3 on 2016-09-02 — it released about 11,000 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.