QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.6md

Earthquake near El Ojo, PR

No earthquake was likely felt in El Ojo in the 24 hours to 10:42 am AST (14:42 UTC). The last one was M 2.2, 5 km (3 mi) ENE, at 5:05 pm AST on 8 November 2026, estimated intensity II (weak) in town. Every earthquake near El Ojo

This page: a magnitude 1.6 earthquake was recorded 2 km (1 mi) southeast of El Ojo, PR, at 1:00 pm AST on 12 October 2019 (17:00 UTC), 13 km deep.

USGS: 2 km SE of El Ojo, Puerto Rico

57 km (36 mi) SW of San Juan, PR · 26 km (16 mi) E of Ponce, PR

1:00 pm AST, Oct 12, 2019 · · 13 km deep · released about 7.1 lb of TNT

Every earthquake near El Ojo Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Santa Isabel Municipio 4 kmJuana Díaz Municipio 12 kmSalinas Municipio 13 kmCoamo Municipio 13 kmVillalba Municipio 19 kmAibonito Municipio 20 kmPonce Municipio 24 kmBarranquitas Municipio 25 kmGuayama Municipio 26 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
1:00 pm AST on 12 October 2019 ()
Where
2 km (1 mi) southeast of El Ojo, PR · earthquakes near El Ojo
Magnitude
M 1.6 (md)
Depth
13 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Santa Isabel Municipio, 4 km SSW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2587 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. In El Ojo, 2 km away, the estimate is intensity II (weak). 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: Jauca, Santa Isabel, Parcelas Peñuelas, Las Ollas, Playita Cortada, Mariano Colón.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 7.1 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 2,100,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,500,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 130× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.6 about 7.1 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 34,000 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 · 40 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 17.9870, -66.3795. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Santa Isabel Municipio, PR 4 km (2 mi) SSW earthquakes near Santa Isabel Municipio
Juana Díaz Municipio, PR 12 km (7 mi) W earthquakes near Juana Díaz Municipio
Salinas Municipio, PR 13 km (8 mi) E earthquakes near Salinas Municipio
Coamo Municipio, PR 13 km (8 mi) N earthquakes near Coamo Municipio
Villalba Municipio, PR 19 km (12 mi) NNW earthquakes near Villalba Municipio
Aibonito Municipio, PR 20 km (12 mi) NE earthquakes near Aibonito Municipio

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.9 2 km SSW of Las Ochenta, Puerto Rico
  2. 2.5 2 km NNE of El Ojo, Puerto Rico
  3. 2.2 3 km ESE of Jauca, Puerto Rico
  4. 1.9 5 km SE of Jauca, Puerto Rico
  5. 1.6 14 km SSW of Potala Pastillo, Puerto Rico
  6. 1.8 2 km SSW of Las Ochenta, Puerto Rico
  7. 2.0 4 km SE of Salinas, Puerto Rico
  8. 1.6 3 km SSW of Las Ochenta, Puerto Rico
  9. 1.6 2 km ENE of Salinas, Puerto Rico
  10. 1.6 3 km SSW of Las Ochenta, Puerto Rico
  11. 1.8 2 km SW of Las Ochenta, Puerto Rico
  12. 2.1 3 km SSW of Las Ochenta, Puerto Rico
  13. 2.3 4 km SSW of Las Ochenta, Puerto Rico
  14. 1.6 3 km SSW of Las Ochenta, Puerto Rico
  15. 1.6 2 km E of Jauca, 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.