12 km NW of Salvaleón de Higüey, Dominican Republic

2017-09-12 02:07 UTC · 102 km deep · released about 15 tons of TNT

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: 2017-09-12 02:07 UTC
Magnitude: M 4.0 (md)
Depth: 102 km below the surface
Felt: 1 report · strongest reported intensity II
Nearest: Mayagüez Municipio, 117 km SE
Status: Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS 1512 days ago · we first saw it 1512 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 1 person has reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 15 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 5.0 would have released about 32 times as much.

Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 12,000× the energy of this one
Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 520× the energy of this one
Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 370× the energy of this one
This earthquake M 4.0 about 15 tons of TNT
Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 31× 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.

Where

Map loads when it scrolls into view

Epicentre 18.6880, -68.7961. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

Place	Distance	Direction
Mayagüez Municipio, PR	117 km (73 mi)	NW of here	earthquakes near Mayagüez Municipio

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

Aftershocks so far

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

2.2 8 km ESE of Boca de Yuma, Dominican Republic 15:18 UTC
4.1 10 km ESE of Ramón Santana, Dominican Republic 07:41 UTC
2.1 21 km SSE of La Romana, Dominican Republic 08:35 UTC
3.1 5 km NNE of La Romana, Dominican Republic 04:34 UTC
2.9 21 km SW of Boca de Yuma, Dominican Republic 23:44 UTC
1.9 35 km E of Miches, Dominican Republic 11:54 UTC
2.4 11 km E of Miches, Dominican Republic 13:16 UTC
3.3 42 km E of Miches, Dominican Republic 04:13 UTC
1.6 21 km ESE of Miches, Dominican Republic 12:47 UTC
2.8 11 km SSW of Boca de Yuma, Dominican Republic 05:30 UTC
2.9 7 km NE of Ramón Santana, Dominican Republic 18:44 UTC
2.7 39 km ENE of Miches, Dominican Republic 11:56 UTC
2.2 12 km NNE of Miches, Dominican Republic 23:29 UTC
3.4 11 km WNW of San Rafael del Yuma, Dominican Republic 09:20 UTC
3.3 41 km ENE of Miches, Dominican Republic 09:54 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 13:31 UTC. 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 4.6 on 2016-03-20 — it released about 8.2 times the energy of this one.

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

On USGS

The official USGS event page — the source of record for every value above
Did you feel it? Report it to USGS — reports go to USGS, not to us
ShakeMap for this event, when USGS has produced one

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