QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.9md

1 km SSE of Playita Cortada, Puerto Rico

· 8.0 km deep · released about 780 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Santa Isabel Municipio 5 kmJuana Díaz Municipio 7 kmCoamo Municipio 17 kmSalinas Municipio 18 kmVillalba Municipio 18 kmPonce Municipio 19 kmAibonito Municipio 25 kmOrocovis Municipio 28 kmBarranquitas Municipio 29 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 2.9 (md)
Depth
8.0 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Santa Isabel Municipio, 5 km ESE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2227 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 780 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.9 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 19,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 14,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 1.2× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.9 about 780 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.

Where

Epicentre 17.9701, -66.4348. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Santa Isabel Municipio, PR 5 km (3 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Santa Isabel Municipio
Juana Díaz Municipio, PR 7 km (4 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Juana Díaz Municipio
Coamo Municipio, PR 17 km (11 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Coamo Municipio
Salinas Municipio, PR 18 km (11 mi) W of here earthquakes near Salinas Municipio
Villalba Municipio, PR 18 km (11 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Villalba Municipio
Ponce Municipio, PR 19 km (12 mi) E of here earthquakes near Ponce Municipio

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.4 9 km SSE of Maria Antonia, Puerto Rico
  2. 2.6 2 km SSE of Guánica, Puerto Rico
  3. 2.7 4 km SE of Maria Antonia, Puerto Rico
  4. 2.5 Puerto Rico region
  5. 2.2 3 km SSE of Maria Antonia, Puerto Rico
  6. 3.4 3 km SSW of Indios, Puerto Rico
  7. 2.2 3 km NNW of Guayanilla, Puerto Rico
  8. 1.9 10 km SSE of Guánica, Puerto Rico
  9. 2.6 2 km NW of Indios, Puerto Rico
  10. 1.9 6 km SE of Maria Antonia, Puerto Rico
  11. 2.6 2 km NW of Indios, Puerto Rico
  12. 2.5 2 km WNW of Indios, Puerto Rico
  13. 2.3 2 km SSE of Guánica, Puerto Rico
  14. 2.4 1 km SSW of Indios, Puerto Rico
  15. 2.5 1 km S of Yauco, 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 150,000 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.