QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.6md

Earthquake near Aguas Buenas, PR

No earthquake was likely felt in Aguas Buenas in the 24 hours to 11:32 am AST (15:32 UTC). The last one was M 4.1, 87 km (54 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 Aguas Buenas

This page: a magnitude 2.6 earthquake was recorded in Aguas Buenas, PR, at 2:05 am AST on 11 December 2017 (06:05 UTC), 20 km deep.

USGS: 1 km NW of Aguas Buenas, Puerto Rico

16 km (10 mi) SSW of San Juan, PR · 9 km (6 mi) WNW of Caguas, PR

2:05 am AST, Dec 11, 2017 · · 20 km deep · released about 260 lb of TNT

Every earthquake near Aguas Buenas Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Aguas Buenas Municipio 2 kmGuaynabo Municipio 8 kmCaguas Municipio 9 kmBayamón Municipio 11 kmCidra Municipio 12 kmComerío Municipio 12 kmTrujillo Alto Municipio 14 kmGurabo Municipio 14 kmNaranjito Municipio 15 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
2:05 am AST on 11 December 2017 ()
Where
in Aguas Buenas, PR · earthquakes near Aguas Buenas
Magnitude
M 2.6 (md)
Depth
20 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Aguas Buenas Municipio, 2 km SW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 3257 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 13 km (8 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.

Likely felt in: Sumidero 6 km, intensity II · Caguas 8 km, intensity II · Guaynabo 10 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 260 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.6 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 59,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 42,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 3.7× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.6 about 260 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 930 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 2 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km:

  1. 5.1 3 km W of Aguas Buenas, Puerto Rico · 3 km WSW of this epicentre
  2. 5.0 3 km N of Brenas, Puerto Rico · 35 km NW 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 18.2703, -66.1131. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Aguas Buenas Municipio, PR 2 km (1 mi) SW earthquakes near Aguas Buenas Municipio
Guaynabo Municipio, PR 8 km (5 mi) N earthquakes near Guaynabo Municipio
Caguas Municipio, PR 9 km (6 mi) SE earthquakes near Caguas Municipio
Bayamón Municipio, PR 11 km (7 mi) NNW earthquakes near Bayamón Municipio
Cidra Municipio, PR 12 km (7 mi) SSW earthquakes near Cidra Municipio
Comerío Municipio, PR 12 km (8 mi) WSW earthquakes near Comerío Municipio

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.2 9 km SSE of Jobos, Puerto Rico
  2. 2.7 1 km NE of Jauca, Puerto Rico
  3. 1.9 7 km WSW of Orocovis, Puerto Rico
  4. 3.2 6 km ENE of Jayuya, Puerto Rico
  5. 2.7 2 km SW of Toa Baja, Puerto Rico
  6. 3.0 4 km W of Ciales, Puerto Rico
  7. 2.7 1 km S of G. L. Garcia, Puerto Rico
  8. 2.8 4 km NNE of Guaynabo, Puerto Rico
  9. 2.9 4 km SW of Gurabo, Puerto Rico
  10. 2.7 10 km S of Jobos, Puerto Rico
  11. 2.9 2 km WNW of Vega Baja, Puerto Rico
  12. 1.5 3 km SSW of Arroyo, Puerto Rico
  13. 2.4 5 km N of Yaurel, Puerto Rico
  14. 2.6 Puerto Rico region
  15. 3.0 4 km SE of G. L. Garcia, 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.