QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.6md

Earthquake near Parcelas Nuevas, PR

No earthquake was likely felt in Parcelas Nuevas in the 24 hours to 12:54 pm AST (16:54 UTC). The last one was M 3.3, 40 km (25 mi) SW, at 8:40 am AST on 1 November 2026, estimated intensity II (weak) in town. Every earthquake near Parcelas Nuevas

This page: a magnitude 1.6 earthquake was recorded in Parcelas Nuevas, PR, at 3:28 am AST on 3 October 2019 (07:28 UTC), 34 km deep.

USGS: 1 km NNE of Parcelas Nuevas, Puerto Rico

30 km (19 mi) SSW of San Juan, PR · 16 km (10 mi) SW of Caguas, PR

3:28 am AST, Oct 3, 2019 · · 34 km deep · released about 8.4 lb of TNT

Every earthquake near Parcelas Nuevas Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Cidra Municipio 3 kmCayey Municipio 5 kmComerío Municipio 10 kmAibonito Municipio 11 kmAguas Buenas Municipio 12 kmCaguas Municipio 14 kmBarranquitas Municipio 16 kmNaranjito Municipio 18 kmGuayama Municipio 20 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
3:28 am AST on 3 October 2019 ()
Where
in Parcelas Nuevas, PR · earthquakes near Parcelas Nuevas
Magnitude
M 1.6 (md)
Depth
34 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Cidra Municipio, 3 km N
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2596 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: Cidra, Parcelas La Milagrosa, Cayey, G. L. Garcia, Santa Clara, Sumidero.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 8.4 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.6 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,800,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,300,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 110× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.6 about 8.4 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 2016-12-05 — about 29,000 times the energy of this one.

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

  1. 5.1 3 km W of Aguas Buenas, Puerto Rico · 13 km NNE of this epicentre
  2. 5.0 3 km N of Brenas, Puerto Rico · 43 km NNW 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 18.1508, -66.1658. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Cidra Municipio, PR 3 km (2 mi) N earthquakes near Cidra Municipio
Cayey Municipio, PR 5 km (3 mi) SSE earthquakes near Cayey Municipio
Comerío Municipio, PR 10 km (6 mi) NW earthquakes near Comerío Municipio
Aibonito Municipio, PR 11 km (7 mi) WSW earthquakes near Aibonito Municipio
Aguas Buenas Municipio, PR 12 km (8 mi) NNE earthquakes near Aguas Buenas Municipio
Caguas Municipio, PR 14 km (9 mi) ENE earthquakes near Caguas Municipio

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.7 Puerto Rico region
  2. 1.6 4 km S of Salinas, Puerto Rico
  3. 1.9 3 km SSW of Las Ochenta, Puerto Rico
  4. 2.4 4 km SSW of Las Ochenta, Puerto Rico
  5. 3.8 3 km SE of Jauca, Puerto Rico
  6. 2.0 1 km SSE of Las Ollas, Puerto Rico
  7. 1.7 10 km WNW of Orocovis, Puerto Rico
  8. 1.9 4 km E of Guayabal, Puerto Rico
  9. 1.7 1 km WSW of Río Cañas Abajo, Puerto Rico
  10. 1.6 10 km NW of Coto Laurel, Puerto Rico
  11. 2.0 1 km SW of Las Ochenta, Puerto Rico
  12. 2.5 3 km ESE of Jauca, Puerto Rico
  13. 1.7 2 km E of Jauca, Puerto Rico
  14. 1.8 1 km ESE of Mariano Colón, Puerto Rico
  15. 2.3 1 km E of Corozal, 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.