73 km NW of Rincón, Puerto Rico

This was a light earthquake. It is usually felt clearly nearby and can rattle windows and dishes, but damage is uncommon.

At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 112 km (70 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 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.

For this area

The largest earthquake within 50 km since 2016 was M 4.6 on 2020-01-29 — about 4 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 14 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 6.8 94 km NE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic · 30 km N of this epicentre Jul 27, 1917
2. 6.4 32 km NW of Aguadilla, Puerto Rico · 42 km SE of this epicentre Feb 10, 1920
3. 6.3 58 km E of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic · 43 km SSW of this epicentre Dec 18, 1922
4. 6.1 80 km NE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic · 37 km NW of this epicentre Nov 3, 1966
5. 5.8 33 km NW of San Antonio, Puerto Rico · 43 km ESE of this epicentre Oct 18, 1918

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 18.8570, -67.6930. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 2.8 90 km NE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic 01:51 UTC
2. 3.1 81 km NE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic 20:29 UTC
3. 3.0 83 km NNW of San Antonio, Puerto Rico 21:41 UTC
4. 3.6 78 km NW of San Antonio, Puerto Rico 14:35 UTC
5. 3.0 43 km NW of Rincón, Puerto Rico 08:18 UTC
6. 3.3 83 km NNW of San Antonio, Puerto Rico 08:17 UTC
7. 4.3 63 km NW of Aguadilla, Puerto Rico 08:01 UTC
8. 2.5 73 km NW of San Antonio, Puerto Rico 05:09 UTC
9. 2.6 86 km NW of San Antonio, Puerto Rico 23:54 UTC
10. 2.5 89 km NNW of San Antonio, Puerto Rico 16:15 UTC
11. 2.6 81 km NE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic 05:22 UTC
12. 3.3 82 km NW of San Antonio, Puerto Rico 22:40 UTC
13. 3.5 91 km NW of San Antonio, Puerto Rico 16:38 UTC
14. 2.9 76 km NW of San Antonio, Puerto Rico 15:48 UTC
15. 2.8 85 km NW of San Antonio, Puerto Rico 01:20 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 15:31 UTC. 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.