QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.5md

22 km SSE of La Parguera, Puerto Rico

· 6.0 km deep · released about 5.9 lb of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N Guánica Municipio 20 kmLajas Municipio 23 kmCabo Rojo Municipio 31 kmGuayanilla Municipio 32 kmSabana Grande Municipio 34 kmYauco Municipio 37 kmSan Germán Municipio 37 kmPeñuelas Municipio 39 kmHormigueros Municipio 42 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 1.5 (md)
Depth
6.0 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Guánica Municipio, 20 km NNE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1964 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 5.9 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.5 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,500,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,800,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 160× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.5 about 5.9 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 17.7813, -66.9890. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Guánica Municipio, PR 20 km (12 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Guánica Municipio
Lajas Municipio, PR 23 km (14 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Lajas Municipio
Cabo Rojo Municipio, PR 31 km (20 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Cabo Rojo Municipio
Guayanilla Municipio, PR 32 km (20 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Guayanilla Municipio
Sabana Grande Municipio, PR 34 km (21 mi) S of here earthquakes near Sabana Grande Municipio
Yauco Municipio, PR 37 km (23 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Yauco 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. 1.8 4 km S of Maria Antonia, Puerto Rico
  2. 1.8 4 km WNW of Hormigueros, Puerto Rico
  3. 1.6 7 km ESE of La Parguera, Puerto Rico
  4. 1.8 6 km WSW of Guánica, Puerto Rico
  5. 1.7 8 km WSW of Guánica, Puerto Rico
  6. 1.8 9 km SSE of Guánica, Puerto Rico
  7. 1.6 7 km ESE of La Parguera, Puerto Rico
  8. 1.8 4 km WSW of Guánica, Puerto Rico
  9. 1.7 9 km SSE of Maria Antonia, Puerto Rico
  10. 1.6 9 km SSW of Guánica, Puerto Rico
  11. 2.1 Puerto Rico region
  12. 1.7 3 km SSW of Indios, Puerto Rico
  13. 1.8 6 km SSE of Guánica, Puerto Rico
  14. 1.7 1 km NNE of Yauco, Puerto Rico
  15. 1.5 7 km SE of Maria Antonia, 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 20,000,000 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.