78 km N of Tierras Nuevas Poniente, Puerto Rico

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 24 km (15 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 680 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.9 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 22,000× the energy of this one
2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 16,000× the energy of this one
3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 1.4× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 2.9 about 680 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 4.8 on 2017-08-18 — about 710 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 12 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 6.4 61 km N of Hatillo, Puerto Rico · 34 km WSW of this epicentre Jan 13, 2014
2. 6.0 81 km N of Isabela, Puerto Rico · 43 km W of this epicentre Jul 30, 1943
3. 5.9 78 km N of Arecibo, Puerto Rico · 13 km W of this epicentre Oct 14, 1918
4. 5.7 78 km N of Tierras Nuevas Poniente, Puerto Rico · 4 km W of this epicentre Sep 10, 1943
5. 5.6 57 km N of Isabela, Puerto Rico · 47 km WSW of this epicentre Apr 13, 1968

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 19.1710, -66.5181. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 2.4 85 km N of Brenas, Puerto Rico 15:10 UTC
2. 1.8 72 km NNE of Arecibo, Puerto Rico 14:00 UTC
3. 2.2 78 km N of Arecibo, Puerto Rico 13:59 UTC
4. 2.3 62 km N of Arecibo, Puerto Rico 13:58 UTC
5. 2.1 76 km N of Tierras Nuevas Poniente, Puerto Rico 06:18 UTC
6. 2.7 38 km N of Carrizales, Puerto Rico 17:12 UTC
7. 2.4 51 km N of Brenas, Puerto Rico 17:03 UTC
8. 2.3 78 km N of Tierras Nuevas Poniente, Puerto Rico 03:40 UTC
9. 2.5 75 km NNE of Isabela, Puerto Rico 06:48 UTC
10. 2.7 66 km N of San Juan, Puerto Rico 00:37 UTC
11. 2.8 58 km N of Hatillo, Puerto Rico 20:20 UTC
12. 2.7 61 km N of Hatillo, Puerto Rico 02:44 UTC
13. 2.2 56 km N of Hatillo, Puerto Rico 11:17 UTC
14. 2.5 45 km N of Carrizales, Puerto Rico 08:19 UTC
15. 2.4 72 km N of Tierras Nuevas Poniente, Puerto Rico 20:23 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 14:08 UTC. 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.