QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.0md

65 km S of Esperanza, Puerto Rico

Yes. A magnitude 3.0 earthquake was recorded 65 km S of Esperanza, Puerto Rico, at 1:18 am AST on 23 January 2019 (05:18 UTC), 11 km deep.

· 11 km deep · released about 800 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Vieques Municipio 69 kmMaunabo Municipio 73 kmYabucoa Municipio 76 kmHumacao Municipio 79 kmPatillas Municipio 80 kmArroyo Municipio 82 kmNaguabo Municipio 84 kmCeiba Municipio 85 kmLas Piedras Municipio 89 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 3.0 (md)
Depth
11 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Vieques Municipio, 69 km N
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2770 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, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 32 km (20 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 800 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.0 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 420,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 19,000× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 13,000× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 3.0 about 800 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 2016-09-02 — about 110 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists one earthquake of M5 or more within 50 km:

  1. 5.3 68 km SSE of Emajagua, Puerto Rico · 32 km WSW 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 17.5071, -65.4360. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Vieques Municipio, PR 69 km (43 mi) N earthquakes near Vieques Municipio
Maunabo Municipio, PR 73 km (46 mi) NW earthquakes near Maunabo Municipio
Yabucoa Municipio, PR 76 km (47 mi) NW earthquakes near Yabucoa Municipio
Humacao Municipio, PR 79 km (49 mi) NNW earthquakes near Humacao Municipio
Patillas Municipio, PR 80 km (50 mi) NW earthquakes near Patillas Municipio
Arroyo Municipio, PR 82 km (51 mi) NW earthquakes near Arroyo Municipio

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.7 31 km SSW of Esperanza, Puerto Rico
  2. 2.5 Puerto Rico region
  3. 2.1 36 km SSE of Esperanza, Puerto Rico
  4. 2.1 43 km SE of Emajagua, Puerto Rico
  5. 2.4 68 km SSE of Lamboglia, Puerto Rico
  6. 1.9 17 km S of Esperanza, Puerto Rico
  7. 2.7 31 km SE of Esperanza, Puerto Rico
  8. 2.4 18 km S of Esperanza, Puerto Rico
  9. 2.0 21 km S of Esperanza, Puerto Rico
  10. 1.7 24 km SE of Emajagua, Puerto Rico
  11. 2.0 24 km SSE of Emajagua, Puerto Rico
  12. 1.8 27 km SE of Emajagua, Puerto Rico
  13. 1.9 24 km S of Esperanza, Puerto Rico
  14. 2.3 44 km S of Esperanza, Puerto Rico
  15. 2.0 30 km SE of El Negro, 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.