QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.7md

0 km SW of Lajas, Puerto Rico

· 14 km deep · released about 12 lb of TNT

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10 km30 km60 km120 km N San Germán Municipio 8 kmLajas Municipio 8 kmHormigueros Municipio 11 kmSabana Grande Municipio 13 kmCabo Rojo Municipio 13 kmGuánica Municipio 18 kmMaricao Municipio 20 kmYauco Municipio 22 kmLas Marías Municipio 22 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 1.7 (md)
Depth
14 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
San Germán Municipio, 8 km NNE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1916 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 12 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.7 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,300,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 900,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 80× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.7 about 12 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 18.0451, -67.0636. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
San Germán Municipio, PR 8 km (5 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near San Germán Municipio
Lajas Municipio, PR 8 km (5 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Lajas Municipio
Hormigueros Municipio, PR 11 km (7 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Hormigueros Municipio
Sabana Grande Municipio, PR 13 km (8 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Sabana Grande Municipio
Cabo Rojo Municipio, PR 13 km (8 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Cabo Rojo Municipio
Guánica Municipio, PR 18 km (11 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Guánica 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. 2.5 3 km SSE of San Sebastián, Puerto Rico
  2. 2.3 11 km SSE of Maria Antonia, Puerto Rico
  3. 2.1 16 km SSE of Guánica, Puerto Rico
  4. 2.0 7 km SE of Maria Antonia, Puerto Rico
  5. 1.8 2 km SW of Guánica, Puerto Rico
  6. 3.1 7 km SSW of Indios, Puerto Rico
  7. 2.0 3 km SSE of Palomas, Puerto Rico
  8. 2.0 8 km E of Maricao, Puerto Rico
  9. 2.2 3 km SSW of Tallaboa, Puerto Rico
  10. 1.7 4 km SW of Guánica, Puerto Rico
  11. 1.9 3 km WSW of Guánica, Puerto Rico
  12. 1.8 2 km SSW of Guánica, Puerto Rico
  13. 2.0 7 km ESE of La Parguera, Puerto Rico
  14. 2.4 8 km SE of Pole Ojea, Puerto Rico
  15. 1.7 2 km WSW of Indios, 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 10,000,000 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.