QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 5.0ml

15 km SSE of Guánica, Puerto Rico

· 7.0 km deep · released about 480 tons of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Guánica Municipio 13 kmGuayanilla Municipio 20 kmLajas Municipio 23 kmPeñuelas Municipio 26 kmYauco Municipio 28 kmSabana Grande Municipio 28 kmPonce Municipio 34 kmSan Germán Municipio 34 kmCabo Rojo Municipio 37 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 5.0 (ml)
Depth
7.0 km below the surface
Felt
436 reports · strongest reported intensity VI
Measured shaking
intensity V (ShakeMap)
USGS impact alert
green
Nearest
Guánica Municipio, 13 km NNW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 279 days ago

This was a moderate earthquake. Shaking at this size can damage poorly built structures close to the epicentre. 436 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 480 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 6.0 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 350× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 16× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 11× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 5.0 about 480 tons of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 1,000× 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 17.8388, -66.8751. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Guánica Municipio, PR 13 km (8 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Guánica Municipio
Guayanilla Municipio, PR 20 km (13 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Guayanilla Municipio
Lajas Municipio, PR 23 km (15 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Lajas Municipio
Peñuelas Municipio, PR 26 km (16 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Peñuelas Municipio
Yauco Municipio, PR 28 km (17 mi) S of here earthquakes near Yauco Municipio
Sabana Grande Municipio, PR 28 km (18 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Sabana Grande 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. 2.8 9 km SSE of Guánica, Puerto Rico
  2. 2.6 23 km SSE of Guánica, Puerto Rico
  3. 2.8 23 km SSE of Guánica, Puerto Rico
  4. 3.1 17 km SSE of Maria Antonia, Puerto Rico
  5. 2.8 9 km SSE of Maria Antonia, Puerto Rico
  6. 2.7 14 km S of Guánica, Puerto Rico
  7. 2.7 9 km SSE of Maria Antonia, Puerto Rico
  8. 2.6 4 km SSW of Tallaboa, Puerto Rico
  9. 3.3 5 km S of Magas Arriba, Puerto Rico
  10. 2.8 11 km SSE of Maria Antonia, Puerto Rico
  11. 3.0 12 km SSE of Maria Antonia, Puerto Rico
  12. 2.6 6 km SSW of Guánica, Puerto Rico
  13. 2.7 6 km S of Magas Arriba, Puerto Rico
  14. 2.9 3 km NW of Tallaboa, Puerto Rico
  15. 2.9 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 130 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.