QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.2md

5 km E of La Parguera, Puerto Rico

· 8.0 km deep · released about 1,700 lb of TNT

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10 km30 km60 km120 km N Lajas Municipio 5 kmGuánica Municipio 8 kmSabana Grande Municipio 13 kmSan Germán Municipio 16 kmYauco Municipio 19 kmCabo Rojo Municipio 20 kmGuayanilla Municipio 21 kmHormigueros Municipio 22 kmMaricao Municipio 23 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 3.2 (md)
Depth
8.0 km below the surface
Felt
1 report · strongest reported intensity II
Nearest
Lajas Municipio, 5 km W
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2248 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 1,700 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.2 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 200,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 8,800× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 6,200× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 3.2 about 1,700 lb of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 1.8× 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 17.9736, -66.9951. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Lajas Municipio, PR 5 km (3 mi) E of here earthquakes near Lajas Municipio
Guánica Municipio, PR 8 km (5 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Guánica Municipio
Sabana Grande Municipio, PR 13 km (8 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Sabana Grande Municipio
San Germán Municipio, PR 16 km (10 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near San Germán Municipio
Yauco Municipio, PR 19 km (12 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Yauco Municipio
Cabo Rojo Municipio, PR 20 km (12 mi) E of here earthquakes near Cabo Rojo 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. 2.4 5 km WSW of Fuig, Puerto Rico
  2. 2.8 14 km SSE of Guánica, Puerto Rico
  3. 2.8 0 km E of Guayanilla, Puerto Rico
  4. 2.6 5 km SSE of Tallaboa, Puerto Rico
  5. 2.5 3 km S of Maria Antonia, Puerto Rico
  6. 2.8 9 km SSW of Tallaboa, Puerto Rico
  7. 2.4 4 km S of Guánica, Puerto Rico
  8. 1.8 6 km S of Guánica, Puerto Rico
  9. 2.0 3 km S of Guánica, Puerto Rico
  10. 1.7 9 km SSE of Maria Antonia, Puerto Rico
  11. 2.1 6 km E of La Parguera, Puerto Rico
  12. 2.2 3 km SE of Indios, Puerto Rico
  13. 3.1 6 km WNW of Las Marías, Puerto Rico
  14. 2.9 5 km E of La Parguera, Puerto Rico
  15. 2.2 2 km WSW 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 70,000 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.