QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 4.2ml

4 km WSW of Tallaboa, Puerto Rico

· 6.0 km deep · released about 30 tons of TNT

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10 km30 km60 km120 km N Guayanilla Municipio 6 kmPeñuelas Municipio 7 kmPonce Municipio 16 kmYauco Municipio 17 kmGuánica Municipio 18 kmAdjuntas Municipio 23 kmSabana Grande Municipio 24 kmJuana Díaz Municipio 28 kmMaricao Municipio 30 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 4.2 (ml)
Depth
6.0 km below the surface
Felt
27 reports · strongest reported intensity VI
Nearest
Guayanilla Municipio, 6 km NW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2363 days ago

This was a light earthquake. It is usually felt clearly nearby and can rattle windows and dishes, but damage is uncommon. 27 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 30 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 5.2 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 5,600× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 250× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 180× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 4.2 about 30 tons of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 63× 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 17.9715, -66.7541. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Guayanilla Municipio, PR 6 km (4 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Guayanilla Municipio
Peñuelas Municipio, PR 7 km (4 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Peñuelas Municipio
Ponce Municipio, PR 16 km (10 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Ponce Municipio
Yauco Municipio, PR 17 km (10 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Yauco Municipio
Guánica Municipio, PR 18 km (11 mi) E of here earthquakes near Guánica Municipio
Adjuntas Municipio, PR 23 km (15 mi) S of here earthquakes near Adjuntas 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. 3.5 10 km SSE of Guánica, Puerto Rico
  2. 2.4 5 km SSW of Tallaboa, Puerto Rico
  3. 2.3 0 km WSW of Magas Arriba, Puerto Rico
  4. 2.9 1 km SE of Palomas, Puerto Rico
  5. 2.8 0 km SSW of Tallaboa, Puerto Rico
  6. 3.6 2 km NNW of Tallaboa, Puerto Rico
  7. 3.9 1 km WNW of Tallaboa, Puerto Rico
  8. 2.6 1 km SSE of Magas Arriba, Puerto Rico
  9. 3.1 15 km S of Indios, Puerto Rico
  10. 2.8 4 km W of Ponce, Puerto Rico
  11. 2.8 7 km SSE of Guánica, Puerto Rico
  12. 2.8 4 km SW of Tallaboa, Puerto Rico
  13. 2.7 0 km WSW of Maria Antonia, Puerto Rico
  14. 3.1 15 km SSE of Guánica, Puerto Rico
  15. 3.6 9 km SSE of Maria Antonia, 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 6.4 on 2020-01-07 — it released about 2,000 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.