QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.8md

129 km NNE of Vieques, Puerto Rico

Yes. A magnitude 2.8 earthquake was recorded 129 km NNE of Vieques, Puerto Rico, at 5:22 am AST on 10 January 2019 (09:22 UTC), 66 km deep.

· 66 km deep · released about 400 lb 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 2.8 (md)
Depth
66 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Dorado Municipio, 145 km SW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2780 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 400 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 38,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 27,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 2.4× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.8 about 400 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 4.9 on 2018-11-14 — about 1,700 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 2 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km:

  1. 5.1 122 km NNE of Vieques, Puerto Rico · 23 km SE of this epicentre
  2. 5.1 92 km N of Suárez, Puerto Rico · 41 km SW 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 19.5483, -65.4831. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Dorado Municipio, PR 145 km (90 mi) SW earthquakes near Dorado Municipio

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 3.5 109 km NNE of Vieques, Puerto Rico
  2. 2.7 112 km N of Suárez, Puerto Rico
  3. 2.7 118 km N of Suárez, Puerto Rico
  4. 3.0 133 km NNW of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  5. 3.1 134 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  6. 2.1 115 km NNE of San Juan, Puerto Rico
  7. 3.7 124 km NNW of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  8. 3.2 147 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  9. 3.4 132 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  10. 3.4 141 km NNE of Vieques, Puerto Rico
  11. 3.2 126 km NNE of Vieques, Puerto Rico
  12. 3.4 114 km NNE of Vieques, Puerto Rico
  13. 3.2 141 km NNW of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  14. 2.5 117 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  15. 3.4 124 km NNW of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands

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.