QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.5md

1 km NW of Potala Pastillo, Puerto Rico

· 4.0 km deep · released about 2.6 tons of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Juana Díaz Municipio 1 kmPonce Municipio 11 kmSanta Isabel Municipio 13 kmVillalba Municipio 15 kmCoamo Municipio 20 kmPeñuelas Municipio 24 kmJayuya Municipio 25 kmOrocovis Municipio 26 kmSalinas Municipio 26 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 3.5 (md)
Depth
4.0 km below the surface
Felt
4 reports · strongest reported intensity III
Measured shaking
intensity III (ShakeMap)
Nearest
Juana Díaz Municipio, 1 km E
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2017 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 4 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 2.6 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.5 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 65,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,900× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 2,100× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 3.5 about 2.6 tons of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 5.4× 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 17.9975, -66.5045. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Juana Díaz Municipio, PR 1 km (1 mi) W of here earthquakes near Juana Díaz Municipio
Ponce Municipio, PR 11 km (7 mi) E of here earthquakes near Ponce Municipio
Santa Isabel Municipio, PR 13 km (8 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Santa Isabel Municipio
Villalba Municipio, PR 15 km (9 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Villalba Municipio
Coamo Municipio, PR 20 km (12 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Coamo Municipio
Peñuelas Municipio, PR 24 km (15 mi) E of here earthquakes near Peñuelas Municipio

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.9 5 km SE of Maria Antonia, Puerto Rico
  2. 2.3 3 km S of Magas Arriba, Puerto Rico
  3. 1.6 2 km SW of Guánica, Puerto Rico
  4. 2.2 6 km SE of Maria Antonia, Puerto Rico
  5. 1.8 11 km SSE of Guánica, Puerto Rico
  6. 2.3 2 km S of Yauco, Puerto Rico
  7. 2.3 2 km NW of Indios, Puerto Rico
  8. 2.2 1 km SW of Guánica, Puerto Rico
  9. 1.6 1 km WNW of Yauco, Puerto Rico
  10. 2.1 4 km SSE of Indios, Puerto Rico
  11. 3.4 2 km WNW of Indios, Puerto Rico
  12. 1.5 4 km S of Guánica, Puerto Rico
  13. 1.8 3 km SSW of Guánica, Puerto Rico
  14. 1.6 0 km SE of Yauco, Puerto Rico
  15. 2.2 4 km S of Magas Arriba, 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 23,000 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.