QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.6md

54 km N of Suárez, Puerto Rico

Yes. A magnitude 2.6 earthquake was recorded 54 km N of Suárez, Puerto Rico, 63 km (39 mi) NNE of San Juan, PR, at 2:39 am AST on 20 November 2019 (06:39 UTC), 35 km deep.

63 km (39 mi) NNE of San Juan, PR · 59 km (37 mi) NNE of Carolina, PR

· 35 km deep · released about 230 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Loíza Municipio 54 kmCarolina Municipio 60 kmRío Grande Municipio 61 kmSan Juan Municipio 61 kmCataño Municipio 63 kmLuquillo Municipio 63 kmToa Baja Municipio 64 kmFajardo Municipio 65 kmCanóvanas Municipio 66 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 2.6 (md)
Depth
35 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Loíza Municipio, 54 km SSW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2548 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes 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.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 230 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.6 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 65,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 46,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 4.1× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.6 about 230 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 4.0 on 2016-09-05 — about 130 times the energy of this one.

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

  1. 5.1 92 km N of Suárez, Puerto Rico · 39 km NNE of this epicentre
  2. 5.0 73 km NNE of Vieques, Puerto Rico · 36 km ENE 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 18.9225, -65.8303. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Loíza Municipio, PR 54 km (34 mi) SSW earthquakes near Loíza Municipio
Carolina Municipio, PR 60 km (37 mi) SSW earthquakes near Carolina Municipio
Río Grande Municipio, PR 61 km (38 mi) S earthquakes near Río Grande Municipio
San Juan Municipio, PR 61 km (38 mi) SSW earthquakes near San Juan Municipio
Cataño Municipio, PR 63 km (39 mi) SSW earthquakes near Cataño Municipio
Luquillo Municipio, PR 63 km (39 mi) SSE earthquakes near Luquillo Municipio

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. 2.7 69 km NNE of Luquillo, Puerto Rico
  2. 2.9 78 km N of San Juan, Puerto Rico
  3. 3.4 92 km N of San Juan, Puerto Rico
  4. 3.1 49 km N of San Juan, Puerto Rico
  5. 3.3 74 km NNE of Vieques, Puerto Rico
  6. 2.6 61 km NNE of Luquillo, Puerto Rico
  7. 2.9 55 km NNE of Luquillo, Puerto Rico
  8. 2.9 Puerto Rico region
  9. 2.7 43 km NNE of Vieques, Puerto Rico
  10. 2.8 40 km NNE of Luquillo, Puerto Rico
  11. 3.2 25 km N of Loíza, Puerto Rico
  12. 2.2 47 km N of Suárez, Puerto Rico
  13. 2.6 68 km N of Suárez, Puerto Rico
  14. 2.9 79 km N of San Juan, Puerto Rico
  15. 3.2 92 km NNE of Suárez, 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.