QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 4.6ml

5 km SSE of Tallaboa, Puerto Rico

· 7.0 km deep · released about 120 tons of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Peñuelas Municipio 9 kmPonce Municipio 11 kmGuayanilla Municipio 12 kmJuana Díaz Municipio 23 kmYauco Municipio 23 kmGuánica Municipio 24 kmAdjuntas Municipio 26 kmSabana Grande Municipio 30 kmVillalba Municipio 31 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 4.6 (ml)
Depth
7.0 km below the surface
Felt
245 reports · strongest reported intensity VI
Measured shaking
intensity V (ShakeMap)
USGS impact alert
green
Nearest
Peñuelas Municipio, 9 km NNW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2262 days ago

This was a light earthquake. It is usually felt clearly nearby and can rattle windows and dishes, but damage is uncommon. 245 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 120 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 5.6 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 1,400× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 63× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 45× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 4.6 about 120 tons of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 250× 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 17.9508, -66.6981. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Peñuelas Municipio, PR 9 km (6 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Peñuelas Municipio
Ponce Municipio, PR 11 km (7 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Ponce Municipio
Guayanilla Municipio, PR 12 km (8 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Guayanilla Municipio
Juana Díaz Municipio, PR 23 km (14 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Juana Díaz Municipio
Yauco Municipio, PR 23 km (14 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Yauco Municipio
Guánica Municipio, PR 24 km (15 mi) E of here earthquakes near Guánica 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. 1.9 2 km SE of Yauco, Puerto Rico
  2. 2.7 3 km SSE of Tallaboa, Puerto Rico
  3. 3.3 5 km S of Tallaboa, Puerto Rico
  4. 1.7 Puerto Rico region
  5. 1.6 5 km SW of Tallaboa, Puerto Rico
  6. 3.3 8 km SSW of Ponce, Puerto Rico
  7. 2.6 4 km SW of Tallaboa, Puerto Rico
  8. 2.8 3 km SSE of Tallaboa, Puerto Rico
  9. 3.3 5 km SSE of Tallaboa, Puerto Rico
  10. 2.4 5 km WSW of Guánica, Puerto Rico
  11. 2.0 2 km SW of Tallaboa, Puerto Rico
  12. 3.2 7 km SSW of Ponce, Puerto Rico
  13. 2.6 9 km SSE of Tallaboa, Puerto Rico
  14. 2.7 6 km SSE of Tallaboa, Puerto Rico
  15. 2.2 9 km SE of Tallaboa, 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 500 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.