QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.8md

74 km ENE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic

Yes. A magnitude 2.8 earthquake was recorded 74 km ENE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, at 4:18 am AST on 27 September 2018 (08:18 UTC), 139 km deep.

· 139 km deep · released about 460 lb of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N Aguadilla Municipio 77 kmRincón Municipio 78 kmAguada Municipio 80 kmMayagüez Municipio 87 kmIsabela Municipio 88 kmMoca Municipio 89 kmAñasco Municipio 91 kmQuebradillas Municipio 97 kmSan Sebastián Municipio 101 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 2.8 (md)
Depth
139 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Aguadilla Municipio, 77 km ESE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2902 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 460 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.8 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 33,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 23,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 2.1× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.8 about 460 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 in our catalogue was M 4.4 on 2017-10-01 — about 260 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 18.8525, -67.7553. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Aguadilla Municipio, PR 77 km (48 mi) ESE earthquakes near Aguadilla Municipio
Rincón Municipio, PR 78 km (48 mi) SE earthquakes near Rincón Municipio
Aguada Municipio, PR 80 km (50 mi) SE earthquakes near Aguada Municipio
Mayagüez Municipio, PR 87 km (54 mi) S earthquakes near Mayagüez Municipio
Isabela Municipio, PR 88 km (55 mi) ESE earthquakes near Isabela Municipio
Moca Municipio, PR 89 km (55 mi) SE earthquakes near Moca 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. 3.0 44 km NW of San Antonio, Puerto Rico
  2. 2.6 75 km NW of Rincón, Puerto Rico
  3. 2.9 45 km NW of Aguadilla, Puerto Rico
  4. 2.8 48 km SE of San Antonio, Puerto Rico
  5. 2.7 49 km ESE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
  6. 3.0 60 km NNE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
  7. 2.1 34 km WNW of Rincón, Puerto Rico
  8. 3.0 71 km NW of San Antonio, Puerto Rico
  9. 2.8 37 km NW of Rincón, Puerto Rico
  10. 2.5 39 km NNW of San Antonio, Puerto Rico
  11. 2.9 47 km NNW of San Antonio, Puerto Rico
  12. 2.8 52 km NW of San Antonio, Puerto Rico
  13. 2.8 45 km NE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
  14. 2.8 95 km NNW of San Antonio, Puerto Rico
  15. 2.6 76 km NE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic

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.