QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.6md

Earthquake near La Playa, PR

No earthquake was likely felt in La Playa in the 24 hours to 11:08 pm AST (03:08 UTC). The last one was M 2.9, 28 km (17 mi) WSW, at 12:57 am AST on 19 October 2026, estimated intensity II (weak) in town. Every earthquake near La Playa

This page: a magnitude 2.6 earthquake was recorded 11 km (7 mi) southwest of La Playa, PR, at 5:58 am AST on 7 September 2018 (09:58 UTC), 102 km deep.

USGS: 10 km SW of La Playa, Puerto Rico

13 km (8 mi) WNW of Mayagüez, PR · 128 km (80 mi) W of San Juan, PR

5:58 am AST, Sep 7, 2018 · · 102 km deep · released about 270 lb of TNT

Every earthquake near La Playa Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Rincón Municipio 12 kmAñasco Municipio 16 kmAguada Municipio 18 kmHormigueros Municipio 19 kmMoca Municipio 26 kmCabo Rojo Municipio 27 kmSan Germán Municipio 28 kmLas Marías Municipio 30 kmAguadilla Municipio 31 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
5:58 am AST on 7 September 2018 ()
Where
11 km (7 mi) southwest of La Playa, PR · earthquakes near La Playa
Magnitude
M 2.6 (md)
Depth
102 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Rincón Municipio, 12 km N
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2924 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. In La Playa, 11 km away, the estimate is intensity I (not felt). 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.

Earthquakes near other towns within 30 km: Stella, Rincón, Mayagüez, Las Marias, Añasco, Espino.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 270 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 57,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 40,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 3.6× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.6 about 270 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 4.3 on 2017-10-14 — about 320 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 7 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

  1. 6.4 32 km NW of Aguadilla, Puerto Rico · 45 km NNW of this epicentre
  2. 6.3 6 km WNW of Aguadilla, Puerto Rico · 24 km NNE of this epicentre
  3. 6.1 15 km WNW of San Antonio, Puerto Rico · 36 km N of this epicentre
  4. 6.1 18 km NNW of San Antonio, Puerto Rico · 46 km N of this epicentre
  5. 5.8 4 km E of Moca, Puerto Rico · 28 km NE 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 18.2276, -67.2653. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Rincón Municipio, PR 12 km (8 mi) N earthquakes near Rincón Municipio
Añasco Municipio, PR 16 km (10 mi) ENE earthquakes near Añasco Municipio
Aguada Municipio, PR 18 km (11 mi) NNE earthquakes near Aguada Municipio
Hormigueros Municipio, PR 19 km (12 mi) ESE earthquakes near Hormigueros Municipio
Moca Municipio, PR 26 km (16 mi) NE earthquakes near Moca Municipio
Cabo Rojo Municipio, PR 27 km (17 mi) SSE earthquakes near Cabo Rojo Municipio

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.4 10 km NW of Puerto Real, Puerto Rico
  2. 2.1 5 km NW of Puerto Real, Puerto Rico
  3. 2.3 6 km W of Boquerón, Puerto Rico
  4. 2.2 27 km WNW of Aguadilla, Puerto Rico
  5. 2.4 22 km W of Pole Ojea, Puerto Rico
  6. 2.1 5 km SE of Lajas, Puerto Rico
  7. 2.5 7 km E of Mayagüez, Puerto Rico
  8. 2.6 43 km WSW of Stella, Puerto Rico
  9. 1.9 8 km NW of Santo Domingo, Puerto Rico
  10. 1.8 4 km NNE of Yauco, Puerto Rico
  11. 1.7 6 km SW of Guánica, Puerto Rico
  12. 1.8 1 km W of Mayagüez, Puerto Rico
  13. 2.0 6 km ESE of Maricao, Puerto Rico
  14. 1.7 4 km S of La Playa, Puerto Rico
  15. 1.8 2 km ESE of Sabana Grande, 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.