QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.5md

Earthquake near Rincón, PR

No earthquake was likely felt in Rincón in the 24 hours to 2:35 am AST (06:35 UTC). The last one was M 3.4, 53 km (33 mi) NNE, at 9:00 pm AST on 27 October 2026, estimated intensity II (weak) in town. Every earthquake near Rincón

This page: a magnitude 2.5 earthquake was recorded 27 km (17 mi) north-northwest of Rincón, PR, at 11:11 pm AST on 11 December 2020 (03:11 UTC), 18 km deep.

USGS: 27 km NNW of Rincón, Puerto Rico

46 km (29 mi) NNW of Mayagüez, PR · 140 km (87 mi) W of San Juan, PR

11:11 pm AST, Dec 11, 2020 · · 18 km deep · released about 170 lb of TNT

Every earthquake near Rincón Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Aguadilla Municipio 27 kmRincón Municipio 27 kmAguada Municipio 29 kmMoca Municipio 37 kmAñasco Municipio 40 kmIsabela Municipio 40 kmQuebradillas Municipio 49 kmSan Sebastián Municipio 50 kmHormigueros Municipio 54 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
11:11 pm AST on 11 December 2020 ()
Where
27 km (17 mi) north-northwest of Rincón, PR · earthquakes near Rincón
Magnitude
M 2.5 (md)
Depth
18 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Aguadilla Municipio, 27 km ESE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2162 days ago

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

At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 13 km (8 mi) from the epicentre. In Rincón, 27 km away, the estimate is intensity II (weak). Estimated from magnitude, depth and distance with the intensity equation USGS Did You Feel It? uses; felt reports, where there are any, are the measurement.

Earthquakes near other towns within 30 km: Aguadilla, Aguada, Caban, Stella.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 170 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.5 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 89,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 63,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 5.6× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.5 about 170 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.

For this area

The largest earthquake within 50 km since 2016 was M 4.4 on 2017-10-01 — about 710 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 13 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

  1. 7.7 45 km N of San Antonio, Puerto Rico · 49 km NE of this epicentre
  2. 7.1 24 km NNW of San Antonio, Puerto Rico · 27 km NE of this epicentre
  3. 6.4 32 km NW of Aguadilla, Puerto Rico · 7 km N of this epicentre
  4. 6.3 6 km WNW of Aguadilla, Puerto Rico · 22 km ESE of this epicentre
  5. 6.1 15 km WNW of San Antonio, Puerto Rico · 16 km E of this epicentre

Since 2016: the QuakeIndex catalogue (US, M1.5+), built from the USGS FDSN event service. Before 2016: USGS ComCat, M5+ from 1900. Distances are between epicentres. This is the record, not a forecast.

Where

Epicentre 18.5488, -67.3855. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Aguadilla Municipio, PR 27 km (17 mi) ESE earthquakes near Aguadilla Municipio
Rincón Municipio, PR 27 km (17 mi) SSE earthquakes near Rincón Municipio
Aguada Municipio, PR 29 km (18 mi) SE earthquakes near Aguada Municipio
Moca Municipio, PR 37 km (23 mi) ESE earthquakes near Moca Municipio
Añasco Municipio, PR 40 km (25 mi) SE earthquakes near Añasco Municipio
Isabela Municipio, PR 40 km (25 mi) E earthquakes near Isabela Municipio

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.4 7 km NNE of Quebradillas, Puerto Rico
  2. 3.1 74 km NW of San Antonio, Puerto Rico
  3. 3.0 62 km NW of San Antonio, Puerto Rico
  4. 2.9 64 km NNW of San Antonio, Puerto Rico
  5. 3.0 62 km NW of San Antonio, Puerto Rico
  6. 1.8 4 km WNW of Hormigueros, Puerto Rico
  7. 2.9 72 km NW of Aguadilla, Puerto Rico
  8. 2.2 14 km NW of Puerto Real, Puerto Rico
  9. 2.6 2 km N of Aguada, Puerto Rico
  10. 3.1 70 km NW of Rincón, Puerto Rico
  11. 2.2 18 km SW of Stella, Puerto Rico
  12. 2.1 3 km NW of Hormigueros, Puerto Rico
  13. 2.4 4 km SSE of Moca, Puerto Rico
  14. 2.6 34 km NW of Rincón, Puerto Rico
  15. 1.6 12 km NW of Puerto Real, 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.

On USGS

QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.