QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.8md

57 km NW of Rincón, Puerto Rico

Yes. A magnitude 2.8 earthquake was recorded 57 km NW of Rincón, Puerto Rico, at 11:00 am AST on 2 February 2020 (15:00 UTC), 10 km deep.

· 10 km deep · released about 400 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Rincón Municipio 57 kmAguadilla Municipio 60 kmAguada Municipio 61 kmMayagüez Municipio 66 kmMoca Municipio 71 kmAñasco Municipio 71 kmIsabela Municipio 73 kmQuebradillas Municipio 83 kmHormigueros Municipio 83 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 2.8 (md)
Depth
10 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Rincón Municipio, 57 km SE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2473 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 24 km (15 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 400 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.8 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 38,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 27,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 2.4× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.8 about 400 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 4.6 on 2020-01-29 — about 600 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 8 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

  1. 6.4 32 km NW of Aguadilla, Puerto Rico · 32 km E of this epicentre
  2. 6.3 58 km E of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic · 24 km SW of this epicentre
  3. 6.1 15 km WNW of San Antonio, Puerto Rico · 49 km ESE of this epicentre
  4. 5.8 33 km NW of San Antonio, Puerto Rico · 39 km E of this epicentre
  5. 5.1 68 km NE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic · 43 km NNW 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 18.6483, -67.6875. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Rincón Municipio, PR 57 km (36 mi) SE earthquakes near Rincón Municipio
Aguadilla Municipio, PR 60 km (37 mi) ESE earthquakes near Aguadilla Municipio
Aguada Municipio, PR 61 km (38 mi) ESE earthquakes near Aguada Municipio
Mayagüez Municipio, PR 66 km (41 mi) SSW earthquakes near Mayagüez Municipio
Moca Municipio, PR 71 km (44 mi) ESE earthquakes near Moca Municipio
Añasco Municipio, PR 71 km (44 mi) SE earthquakes near Añasco Municipio

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 3.4 90 km NW of San Antonio, Puerto Rico
  2. 2.7 43 km ENE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
  3. 2.9 35 km ESE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
  4. 3.1 86 km NW of San Antonio, Puerto Rico
  5. 2.5 77 km NW of San Antonio, Puerto Rico
  6. 3.5 80 km NE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
  7. 3.5 88 km NE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
  8. 3.4 Mona Passage
  9. 3.4 89 km NW of San Antonio, Puerto Rico
  10. 2.0 79 km NW of San Antonio, Puerto Rico
  11. 3.3 83 km ENE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
  12. 4.0 13 km WNW of Rincón, Puerto Rico
  13. 2.5 61 km NW of Aguadilla, Puerto Rico
  14. 3.2 87 km NE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
  15. 3.9 39 km WSW of Stella, 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.

On USGS

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