Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist
M 2.3md
46 km ENE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
Yes. A magnitude 2.3 earthquake was recorded 46 km ENE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, at 2:52 pm AST on 13 December 2018 (18:52 UTC), 7.0 km deep.
- When
- Magnitude
- M 2.3 (md)
- Depth
- 7.0 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Nearest
- Mayagüez Municipio, 81 km S
- Status
- Reviewed by a seismologist
USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2890 days ago
Earthquake alerts for Rincón, PR
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Alerts are on for .
Not a warning. An alert comes after USGS publishes a quake, usually minutes after the shaking. For early warning use ShakeAlert, through your phone's Wireless Emergency Alerts or the MyShake app.
This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.
At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 19 km (12 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.
How big was it?
This earthquake released about 88 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.3 would have released about 32 times as much.
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 170,000× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 120,000× the energy of this one
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 11× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 2.3 about 88 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 1,400 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 18.7978, -68.0278. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mayagüez Municipio, PR | 81 km (50 mi) | S | earthquakes near Mayagüez Municipio |
| Rincón Municipio, PR | 96 km (60 mi) | ESE | earthquakes near Rincón Municipio |
| Aguadilla Municipio, PR | 100 km (62 mi) | ESE | earthquakes near Aguadilla Municipio |
| Aguada Municipio, PR | 100 km (62 mi) | ESE | earthquakes near Aguada Municipio |
| Añasco Municipio, PR | 110 km (69 mi) | ESE | earthquakes near Añasco Municipio |
| Moca Municipio, PR | 110 km (69 mi) | ESE | earthquakes near Moca Municipio |
Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.
Aftershocks so far
37 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.
- 2.5 50 km ENE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
- 2.8 43 km NNE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
- 2.7 65 km NNE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
- 2.8 64 km NNE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
- 2.1 56 km NNE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
- 2.5 74 km NNE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
- 2.7 65 km NNE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
- 3.3 67 km NNE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
- 2.9 76 km NE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
- 2.4 83 km NE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
- 3.2 66 km NNE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
- 2.6 60 km NNE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
- 2.4 64 km NW of Aguadilla, Puerto Rico
- 3.1 74 km NW of San Antonio, Puerto Rico
- 3.2 81 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
- The official USGS event page — the source of record for every value above
- Did you feel it? Report it to USGS — reports go to USGS, not to us
- ShakeMap for this event, when USGS has produced one
QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.