QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.0md

87 km NW of San Antonio, Puerto Rico

Yes. A magnitude 3.0 earthquake was recorded 87 km NW of San Antonio, Puerto Rico, at 2:58 am AST on 18 December 2019 (06:58 UTC), 10 km deep.

· 10 km deep · released about 1,100 lb of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N Aguadilla Municipio 85 kmAguada Municipio 93 kmRincón Municipio 93 kmIsabela Municipio 94 kmMoca Municipio 99 kmQuebradillas Municipio 102 kmAñasco Municipio 104 kmCamuy Municipio 108 kmSan Sebastián Municipio 110 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 3.0 (md)
Depth
10 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Aguadilla Municipio, 85 km SE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2440 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, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 37 km (23 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 1,100 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.0 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 310,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 14,000× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 9,800× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 3.0 about 1,100 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 6.0 on 2019-09-24 — about 28,000 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 16 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

  1. 6.8 94 km NE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic · 10 km WNW of this epicentre
  2. 6.1 80 km NE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic · 28 km W of this epicentre
  3. 6.0 93 km NNW of San Antonio, Puerto Rico · 44 km NE of this epicentre
  4. 6.0 67 km NNW of San Antonio, Puerto Rico · 39 km E of this epicentre
  5. 5.7 88 km N of San Antonio, Puerto Rico · 45 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 19.0936, -67.6308. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Aguadilla Municipio, PR 85 km (53 mi) SE earthquakes near Aguadilla Municipio
Aguada Municipio, PR 93 km (58 mi) SSE earthquakes near Aguada Municipio
Rincón Municipio, PR 93 km (58 mi) SSE earthquakes near Rincón Municipio
Isabela Municipio, PR 94 km (58 mi) SE earthquakes near Isabela Municipio
Moca Municipio, PR 99 km (61 mi) SE earthquakes near Moca Municipio
Quebradillas Municipio, PR 102 km (63 mi) SE earthquakes near Quebradillas 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.

  1. 2.9 82 km NNW of San Antonio, Puerto Rico
  2. 2.8 102 km NNW of San Antonio, Puerto Rico
  3. 2.9 104 km NW of San Antonio, Puerto Rico
  4. 3.5 84 km NE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
  5. 2.9 100 km NE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
  6. 3.1 78 km NE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
  7. 2.8 70 km NNW of San Antonio, Puerto Rico
  8. 2.8 104 km NW of San Antonio, Puerto Rico
  9. 2.4 94 km NE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
  10. 2.7 86 km NW of San Antonio, Puerto Rico
  11. 2.6 98 km NNW of San Antonio, Puerto Rico
  12. 2.7 87 km N of San Antonio, Puerto Rico
  13. 4.1 83 km NE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
  14. 2.8 99 km NE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
  15. 2.9 59 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

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