QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.9md

5 km NNW of Brenas, Puerto Rico

· 118 km deep · released about 680 lb of TNT

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10 km30 km60 km120 km N Vega Baja Municipio 8 kmVega Alta Municipio 9 kmDorado Municipio 11 kmManatí Municipio 16 kmToa Baja Municipio 19 kmToa Alta Municipio 20 kmBarceloneta Municipio 22 kmMorovis Municipio 23 kmCataño Municipio 23 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 2.9 (md)
Depth
118 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Vega Baja Municipio, 8 km SSW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 3009 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 680 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.9 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 22,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 16,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 1.4× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.9 about 680 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.

Where

Epicentre 18.5141, -66.3583. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Vega Baja Municipio, PR 8 km (5 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Vega Baja Municipio
Vega Alta Municipio, PR 9 km (6 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Vega Alta Municipio
Dorado Municipio, PR 11 km (7 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Dorado Municipio
Manatí Municipio, PR 16 km (10 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Manatí Municipio
Toa Baja Municipio, PR 19 km (12 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Toa Baja Municipio
Toa Alta Municipio, PR 20 km (13 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Toa Alta 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.

  1. 2.8 4 km NNW of Sabana, Puerto Rico
  2. 2.8 1 km NW of Naranjito, Puerto Rico
  3. 2.5 2 km ESE of Vega Alta, Puerto Rico
  4. 1.7 8 km S of Villalba, Puerto Rico
  5. 2.7 4 km ESE of Florida, Puerto Rico
  6. 2.2 11 km N of Arecibo, Puerto Rico
  7. 2.5 19 km N of Arecibo, Puerto Rico
  8. 3.0 4 km ESE of Bayamon, Puerto Rico
  9. 2.6 3 km SSE of Guaynabo, Puerto Rico
  10. 2.8 31 km N of Tierras Nuevas Poniente, Puerto Rico
  11. 2.5 23 km N of Carrizales, Puerto Rico
  12. 2.4 33 km NNW of Tierras Nuevas Poniente, Puerto Rico
  13. 2.8 3 km NNE of Naranjito, Puerto Rico
  14. 2.0 1 km NE of Sabana Seca, Puerto Rico
  15. 2.9 5 km SE of Cataño, 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.

For this area

The largest earthquake within 50 km in our catalogue was M 4.8 on 2017-08-18 — it released about 710 times the energy of this one.

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

On USGS

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