QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.9md

Earthquake near Río Cañas Abajo, PR

No earthquake was likely felt in Río Cañas Abajo in the 24 hours to 11:32 am AST (15:32 UTC). The last one was M 3.0, 22 km (14 mi) SSE, at 7:09 pm AST on 5 November 2026, estimated intensity II (weak) in town. Every earthquake near Río Cañas Abajo

This page: a magnitude 1.9 earthquake was recorded in Río Cañas Abajo, PR, at 6:00 am AST on 6 July 2019 (10:00 UTC), 17 km deep.

USGS: 1 km SW of Río Cañas Abajo, Puerto Rico

16 km (10 mi) ENE of Ponce, PR

6:00 am AST, Jul 6, 2019 · · 17 km deep · released about 18 lb of TNT

Every earthquake near Río Cañas Abajo Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Juana Díaz Municipio 4 kmVillalba Municipio 11 kmSanta Isabel Municipio 13 kmPonce Municipio 14 kmCoamo Municipio 15 kmOrocovis Municipio 21 kmJayuya Municipio 23 kmSalinas Municipio 24 kmAibonito Municipio 25 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
6:00 am AST on 6 July 2019 ()
Where
in Río Cañas Abajo, PR · earthquakes near Río Cañas Abajo
Magnitude
M 1.9 (md)
Depth
17 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Juana Díaz Municipio, 4 km SSW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2685 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause 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.

Earthquakes near other towns within 30 km: Juana Díaz, Potala Pastillo, Luis Llorens Torres, Aguilita, Las Ollas, Capitanejo.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 18 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.9 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 840,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 600,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 53× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.9 about 18 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 4.6 on 2019-03-12 — about 13,000 times the energy of this one.

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

  1. 5.1 3 km W of Aguas Buenas, Puerto Rico · 44 km NE 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 18.0301, -66.4771. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Juana Díaz Municipio, PR 4 km (2 mi) SSW earthquakes near Juana Díaz Municipio
Villalba Municipio, PR 11 km (7 mi) N earthquakes near Villalba Municipio
Santa Isabel Municipio, PR 13 km (8 mi) SE earthquakes near Santa Isabel Municipio
Ponce Municipio, PR 14 km (9 mi) WSW earthquakes near Ponce Municipio
Coamo Municipio, PR 15 km (9 mi) ENE earthquakes near Coamo Municipio
Orocovis Municipio, PR 21 km (13 mi) NNE earthquakes near Orocovis Municipio

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.8 18 km SSW of Central Aguirre, Puerto Rico
  2. 1.7 11 km S of Ponce, Puerto Rico
  3. 2.2 6 km S of Salinas, Puerto Rico
  4. 1.7 9 km ENE of Maricao, Puerto Rico
  5. 1.7 2 km S of Las Ochenta, Puerto Rico
  6. 2.8 12 km S of Salinas, Puerto Rico
  7. 2.4 11 km S of Salinas, Puerto Rico
  8. 1.9 6 km NW of Adjuntas, Puerto Rico
  9. 1.9 7 km S of Ponce, Puerto Rico
  10. 2.3 12 km SSW of Tallaboa, Puerto Rico
  11. 1.7 2 km SSW of H. Rivera Colon, Puerto Rico
  12. 2.0 2 km SSW of Adjuntas, Puerto Rico
  13. 1.8 8 km S of Potala Pastillo, Puerto Rico
  14. 1.5 10 km SSE of Ponce, Puerto Rico
  15. 2.1 2 km NW of Galateo, 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.