QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.3Md

61 km NW of San Antonio, Puerto Rico

Yes. A magnitude 3.3 earthquake was recorded 61 km NW of San Antonio, Puerto Rico, at 5:37 pm AST on 1 January 2017 (21:37 UTC), 6.0 km deep.

· 6.0 km deep · released about 1.3 tons of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N Aguadilla Municipio 59 kmRincón Municipio 65 kmAguada Municipio 65 kmIsabela Municipio 69 kmMoca Municipio 72 kmAñasco Municipio 77 kmQuebradillas Municipio 78 kmSan Sebastián Municipio 84 kmCamuy Municipio 85 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 3.3 (Md)
Depth
6.0 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Aguadilla Municipio, 59 km SE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 3516 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, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 52 km (32 mi) from the epicentre. 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 1.3 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.3 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 130,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 5,600× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 4,000× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 3.3 about 1.3 tons of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 2.8× more

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 4.0 on 2016-02-13 — about 11 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 19 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

  1. 7.7 45 km N of San Antonio, Puerto Rico · 45 km E of this epicentre
  2. 7.1 24 km NNW of San Antonio, Puerto Rico · 41 km ESE of this epicentre
  3. 6.8 94 km NE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic · 35 km NNW of this epicentre
  4. 6.4 32 km NW of Aguadilla, Puerto Rico · 32 km SSE of this epicentre
  5. 6.1 15 km WNW of San Antonio, Puerto Rico · 47 km SE 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 18.8556, -67.5438. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Aguadilla Municipio, PR 59 km (37 mi) SE earthquakes near Aguadilla Municipio
Rincón Municipio, PR 65 km (41 mi) SSE earthquakes near Rincón Municipio
Aguada Municipio, PR 65 km (41 mi) SE earthquakes near Aguada Municipio
Isabela Municipio, PR 69 km (43 mi) SE earthquakes near Isabela Municipio
Moca Municipio, PR 72 km (45 mi) SE earthquakes near Moca Municipio
Añasco Municipio, PR 77 km (48 mi) SE earthquakes near Añasco 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. 2.6 34 km WNW of Rincón, Puerto Rico
  2. 3.1 55 km NNW of San Antonio, Puerto Rico
  3. 3.0 59 km NNW of San Antonio, Puerto Rico
  4. 2.7 46 km NNW of San Antonio, Puerto Rico
  5. 2.8 50 km NNW of San Antonio, Puerto Rico
  6. 2.6 34 km NW of Rincón, Puerto Rico
  7. 2.9 70 km NNW of San Antonio, Puerto Rico
  8. 3.0 48 km NW of Rincón, Puerto Rico
  9. 3.1 38 km NW of Rincón, Puerto Rico
  10. 3.0 39 km NW of Rincón, Puerto Rico
  11. 3.3 40 km WNW of Rincón, Puerto Rico
  12. 1.9 33 km NW of Rincón, Puerto Rico
  13. 1.9 36 km NW of Rincón, Puerto Rico
  14. 2.4 44 km NW of Rincón, Puerto Rico
  15. 2.5 42 km WNW of Rincón, 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.