QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.5Md

Earthquake near Las Piedras, PR

No earthquake was likely felt in Las Piedras in the 24 hours to 10:12 am AST (14:12 UTC). The last one was M 4.1, 61 km (38 mi) ESE, at 5:44 am AST on 28 October 2026, estimated intensity II (weak) in town; 5 felt reports to USGS. Every earthquake near Las Piedras

This page: a magnitude 1.5 earthquake was recorded 2 km (1 mi) west-southwest of Las Piedras, PR, at 1:36 am AST on 24 January 2017 (05:36 UTC), 7.0 km deep.

USGS: 2 km WSW of Las Piedras, Puerto Rico

31 km (19 mi) SE of San Juan, PR · 17 km (11 mi) ESE of Caguas, PR

1:36 am AST, Jan 24, 2017 · · 7.0 km deep · released about 5.4 lb of TNT

Every earthquake near Las Piedras Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Las Piedras Municipio 2 kmJuncos Municipio 6 kmSan Lorenzo Municipio 10 kmHumacao Municipio 12 kmYabucoa Municipio 13 kmGurabo Municipio 14 kmNaguabo Municipio 17 kmCanóvanas Municipio 17 kmCaguas Municipio 18 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
1:36 am AST on 24 January 2017 ()
Where
2 km (1 mi) west-southwest of Las Piedras, PR · earthquakes near Las Piedras
Magnitude
M 1.5 (Md)
Depth
7.0 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Las Piedras Municipio, 2 km ENE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 3578 days ago

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

At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 7 km (4 mi) from the epicentre. In Las Piedras, 2 km away, the estimate is intensity II (weak). 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.

Likely felt in: Humacao 7 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 5.4 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.5 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,800,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 2,000,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 180× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.5 about 5.4 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 4.6 on 2016-12-05 — about 45,000 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 · 28 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 18.1770, -65.8880. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Las Piedras Municipio, PR 2 km (1 mi) ENE earthquakes near Las Piedras Municipio
Juncos Municipio, PR 6 km (4 mi) NNW earthquakes near Juncos Municipio
San Lorenzo Municipio, PR 10 km (6 mi) WSW earthquakes near San Lorenzo Municipio
Humacao Municipio, PR 12 km (7 mi) ESE earthquakes near Humacao Municipio
Yabucoa Municipio, PR 13 km (8 mi) SSE earthquakes near Yabucoa Municipio
Gurabo Municipio, PR 14 km (9 mi) NW earthquakes near Gurabo Municipio

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.7 29 km SE of El Negro, Puerto Rico
  2. 2.4 22 km SW of Esperanza, Puerto Rico
  3. 2.1 11 km S of Emajagua, Puerto Rico
  4. 2.4 12 km ESE of Candelero Arriba, Puerto Rico
  5. 1.8 3 km S of Cayey, Puerto Rico
  6. 2.5 3 km SE of Salinas, Puerto Rico
  7. 2.6 29 km SW of Esperanza, Puerto Rico
  8. 2.6 1 km NW of Bayamón, Puerto Rico
  9. 2.6 20 km SSE of Lamboglia, Puerto Rico
  10. 2.1 16 km SW of Esperanza, Puerto Rico
  11. 2.3 5 km N of Olimpo, Puerto Rico
  12. 2.3 23 km SSE of Lamboglia, Puerto Rico
  13. 2.4 24 km SW of Esperanza, Puerto Rico
  14. 1.6 15 km SW of Esperanza, Puerto Rico
  15. 3.0 6 km NNE of Levittown, 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.