QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.5md

12 km SSE of Ponce, Puerto Rico

· 12 km deep · released about 5.7 lb of TNT

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10 km30 km60 km120 km N Ponce Municipio 11 kmJuana Díaz Municipio 16 kmPeñuelas Municipio 19 kmSanta Isabel Municipio 23 kmGuayanilla Municipio 24 kmVillalba Municipio 29 kmCoamo Municipio 34 kmYauco Municipio 34 kmJayuya Municipio 34 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 1.5 (md)
Depth
12 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Ponce Municipio, 11 km N
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2535 days ago

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

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 5.7 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.5 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,600,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,900,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 170× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.5 about 5.7 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.

Where

Epicentre 17.9026, -66.5981. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Ponce Municipio, PR 11 km (7 mi) S of here earthquakes near Ponce Municipio
Juana Díaz Municipio, PR 16 km (10 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Juana Díaz Municipio
Peñuelas Municipio, PR 19 km (12 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Peñuelas Municipio
Santa Isabel Municipio, PR 23 km (14 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Santa Isabel Municipio
Guayanilla Municipio, PR 24 km (15 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Guayanilla Municipio
Villalba Municipio, PR 29 km (18 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Villalba Municipio

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.8 4 km NNE of Orocovis, Puerto Rico
  2. 1.6 3 km SSE of Utuado, Puerto Rico
  3. 2.4 3 km WSW of Central Aguirre, Puerto Rico
  4. 2.6 2 km SSW of Parcelas Peñuelas, Puerto Rico
  5. 2.1 10 km S of Salinas, Puerto Rico
  6. 2.9 6 km S of Tallaboa, Puerto Rico
  7. 1.5 7 km WSW of Guánica, Puerto Rico
  8. 2.5 7 km S of Tallaboa, Puerto Rico
  9. 1.9 11 km N of Yauco, Puerto Rico
  10. 1.8 2 km SE of Jauca, Puerto Rico
  11. 2.0 23 km S of Guánica, Puerto Rico
  12. 2.7 4 km SE of Jauca, Puerto Rico
  13. 1.8 8 km ESE of Adjuntas, Puerto Rico
  14. 1.9 2 km E of Jauca, Puerto Rico
  15. 1.9 2 km ESE 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.

For this area

The largest earthquake within 50 km in our catalogue was M 4.6 on 2019-03-12 — it released about 42,000 times the energy of this one.

From the QuakeIndex catalogue, built from the USGS FDSN event service.

On USGS

QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.