QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.8md

120 km NNE of Vieques, Puerto Rico

· 84 km deep · released about 7.3 tons of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N
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 3.8 (md)
Depth
84 km below the surface
Felt
1 report · strongest reported intensity II
Nearest
Loíza Municipio, 122 km SSW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2280 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 1 person has reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 7.3 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.8 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 23,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,000× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 730× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 3.8 about 7.3 tons of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 15× 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 19.4683, -65.5153. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Loíza Municipio, PR 122 km (76 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Loíza Municipio
Carolina Municipio, PR 128 km (80 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Carolina Municipio
San Juan Municipio, PR 130 km (81 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near San Juan Municipio
Cataño Municipio, PR 132 km (82 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Cataño Municipio
Toa Baja Municipio, PR 133 km (83 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Toa Baja Municipio
Dorado Municipio, PR 136 km (84 mi) NE of here earthquakes near Dorado Municipio

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 3.4 101 km N of Culebra, Puerto Rico
  2. 3.2 77 km NNE of Vieques, Puerto Rico
  3. 3.2 94 km N of Suárez, Puerto Rico
  4. 3.2 112 km N of Suárez, Puerto Rico
  5. 3.2 74 km NNE of Vieques, Puerto Rico
  6. 3.4 98 km NNW of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  7. 3.4 113 km N of Suárez, Puerto Rico
  8. 3.6 145 km NNE of Vieques, Puerto Rico
  9. 3.7 133 km NNW of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  10. 3.4 106 km NNW of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  11. 2.9 84 km NNE of Luquillo, Puerto Rico
  12. 3.1 80 km NNE of Luquillo, Puerto Rico
  13. 3.4 105 km N of San Juan, Puerto Rico
  14. 3.4 98 km N of Culebra, Puerto Rico
  15. 3.6 104 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands

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 4.9 on 2018-11-14 — it released about 46 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.