Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist
M 3.8md
79 km NE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
Yes. A magnitude 3.8 earthquake was recorded 79 km NE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, at 5:50 pm AST on 16 December 2019 (21:50 UTC), 10 km deep.
- When
- Magnitude
- M 3.8 (md)
- Depth
- 10 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Nearest
- Aguadilla Municipio, 91 km SE
- Status
- Reviewed by a seismologist
USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2443 days ago
Earthquake alerts for Aguadilla, PR
Get a notification in this browser when USGS records an earthquake near Aguadilla, PR. No account or email needed.
Alerts are on for .
Not a warning. An alert comes after USGS publishes a quake, usually minutes after the shaking. For early warning use ShakeAlert, through your phone's Wireless Emergency Alerts or the MyShake app.
This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage.
At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 79 km (49 mi) from the epicentre. 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 6.6 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.8 would have released about 32 times as much.
- Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 26,000× the energy of this one
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,100× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 810× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 3.8 about 6.6 tons of TNT
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 14× more
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 in our catalogue was M 4.6 on 2018-12-25 — about 18 times the energy of this one.
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 19.0110, -67.8000. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aguadilla Municipio, PR | 91 km (56 mi) | SE | earthquakes near Aguadilla Municipio |
| Rincón Municipio, PR | 95 km (59 mi) | SE | earthquakes near Rincón Municipio |
| Aguada Municipio, PR | 96 km (60 mi) | SE | earthquakes near Aguada Municipio |
| Isabela Municipio, PR | 101 km (63 mi) | SE | earthquakes near Isabela Municipio |
| Mayagüez Municipio, PR | 103 km (64 mi) | S | earthquakes near Mayagüez Municipio |
| Moca Municipio, PR | 104 km (64 mi) | SE | earthquakes near Moca Municipio |
Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.
Aftershocks so far
50 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.
- 3.2 Mona Passage
- 2.8 101 km NW of San Antonio, Puerto Rico
- 3.0 101 km NNW of San Antonio, Puerto Rico
- 2.8 105 km NNW of San Antonio, Puerto Rico
- 2.9 105 km NNW of San Antonio, Puerto Rico
- 2.6 92 km NE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
- 2.9 80 km NE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
- 2.7 77 km NW of San Antonio, Puerto Rico
- 2.9 84 km NE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
- 2.8 89 km NNW of San Antonio, Puerto Rico
- 3.2 95 km NE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
- 2.9 94 km NE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
- 3.0 104 km NE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
- 3.0 94 km NE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
- 2.7 98 km NE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
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
- The official USGS event page — the source of record for every value above
- Did you feel it? Report it to USGS — reports go to USGS, not to us
- ShakeMap for this event, when USGS has produced one
QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.