QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 4.6ml

3 km SSW of Indios, Puerto Rico

· 8.0 km deep · released about 120 tons of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Guayanilla Municipio 5 kmGuánica Municipio 10 kmPeñuelas Municipio 12 kmYauco Municipio 14 kmSabana Grande Municipio 19 kmLajas Municipio 23 kmPonce Municipio 24 kmAdjuntas Municipio 25 kmMaricao 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
Magnitude
M 4.6 (ml)
Depth
8.0 km below the surface
Felt
68 reports · strongest reported intensity VI
Measured shaking
intensity V (ShakeMap)
USGS impact alert
green
Nearest
Guayanilla Municipio, 5 km NNE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2381 days ago

This was a light earthquake. It is usually felt clearly nearby and can rattle windows and dishes, but damage is uncommon. 68 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 120 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 5.6 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 1,400× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 63× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 45× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 4.6 about 120 tons of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 250× 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.

Where

Epicentre 17.9645, -66.8256. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Guayanilla Municipio, PR 5 km (3 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Guayanilla Municipio
Guánica Municipio, PR 10 km (6 mi) E of here earthquakes near Guánica Municipio
Peñuelas Municipio, PR 12 km (8 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Peñuelas Municipio
Yauco Municipio, PR 14 km (9 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Yauco Municipio
Sabana Grande Municipio, PR 19 km (12 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Sabana Grande Municipio
Lajas Municipio, PR 23 km (14 mi) E of here earthquakes near Lajas Municipio

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.7 2 km N of Magas Arriba, Puerto Rico
  2. 2.4 Puerto Rico region
  3. 1.9 10 km S of Indios, Puerto Rico
  4. 3.1 0 km E of Peñuelas, Puerto Rico
  5. 1.8 1 km N of Guayanilla, Puerto Rico
  6. 3.1 1 km SSE of Magas Arriba, Puerto Rico
  7. 2.6 5 km S of Indios, Puerto Rico
  8. 1.7 5 km SE of Maria Antonia, Puerto Rico
  9. 1.9 9 km S of Indios, Puerto Rico
  10. 2.5 7 km S of Tallaboa, Puerto Rico
  11. 1.8 2 km WSW of Tallaboa, Puerto Rico
  12. 3.2 3 km SW of Fuig, Puerto Rico
  13. 3.5 9 km SSW of Tallaboa, Puerto Rico
  14. 2.1 4 km SW of Tallaboa, Puerto Rico
  15. 3.7 Puerto Rico region

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 6.4 on 2020-01-07 — it released about 500 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.