QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.4md

131 km NE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic

Yes. A magnitude 3.4 earthquake was recorded 131 km NE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, at 11:44 pm AST on 3 May 2018 (03:44 UTC), 101 km deep.

· 101 km deep · released about 1.8 tons of TNT

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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 3.4 (md)
Depth
101 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Aguadilla Municipio, 133 km SSE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 3029 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 it was probably too small to be felt, even directly above it. 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 1.8 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.4 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 95,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 4,300× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 3,000× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 3.4 about 1.8 tons of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 3.7× 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 in our catalogue was M 4.0 on 2016-02-13 — about 8.5 times the energy of this one.

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 19.5578, -67.6958. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Aguadilla Municipio, PR 133 km (83 mi) SSE earthquakes near Aguadilla Municipio
Isabela Municipio, PR 139 km (87 mi) SSE earthquakes near Isabela Municipio

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.9 123 km NNE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
  2. 3.1 114 km NNE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
  3. 3.0 91 km NE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
  4. 3.4 128 km NNE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
  5. 3.2 93 km NE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
  6. 3.1 118 km NNE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
  7. 3.4 127 km NE of Miches, Dominican Republic
  8. 2.4 90 km NNE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
  9. 3.3 103 km NNE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
  10. 3.3 105 km NE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
  11. 2.5 99 km NNW of San Antonio, Puerto Rico
  12. 2.3 Mona Passage
  13. 3.3 108 km NNW of San Antonio, Puerto Rico
  14. 3.1 88 km NNW of San Antonio, Puerto Rico
  15. 3.0 98 km NW of San Antonio, 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.