QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 4.3ml

5 km WSW of La Parguera, Puerto Rico

· 11 km deep · released about 37 tons of TNT

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10 km30 km60 km120 km N Lajas Municipio 6 kmCabo Rojo Municipio 10 kmSan Germán Municipio 18 kmGuánica Municipio 18 kmHormigueros Municipio 20 kmSabana Grande Municipio 21 kmYauco Municipio 29 kmMaricao Municipio 30 kmGuayanilla Municipio 32 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 4.3 (ml)
Depth
11 km below the surface
Felt
30 reports · strongest reported intensity IV
Measured shaking
intensity IV (ShakeMap)
USGS impact alert
green
Nearest
Lajas Municipio, 6 km ENE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1827 days ago

This was a light earthquake. It is usually felt clearly nearby and can rattle windows and dishes, but damage is uncommon. 30 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 37 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 5.3 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 4,600× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 200× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 140× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 4.3 about 37 tons of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 78× 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 17.9553, -67.0951. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Lajas Municipio, PR 6 km (4 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Lajas Municipio
Cabo Rojo Municipio, PR 10 km (6 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Cabo Rojo Municipio
San Germán Municipio, PR 18 km (11 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near San Germán Municipio
Guánica Municipio, PR 18 km (11 mi) W of here earthquakes near Guánica Municipio
Hormigueros Municipio, PR 20 km (12 mi) S of here earthquakes near Hormigueros Municipio
Sabana Grande Municipio, PR 21 km (13 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Sabana Grande 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. 2.4 5 km WSW of La Parguera, Puerto Rico
  2. 2.8 6 km WSW of La Parguera, Puerto Rico
  3. 3.1 4 km WSW of Fuig, Puerto Rico
  4. 2.5 3 km ESE of La Parguera, Puerto Rico
  5. 2.3 5 km WSW of La Parguera, Puerto Rico
  6. 2.4 12 km SSE of Guánica, Puerto Rico
  7. 2.5 8 km S of Guánica, Puerto Rico
  8. 3.3 2 km S of Magas Arriba, Puerto Rico
  9. 2.2 6 km SSE of Maria Antonia, Puerto Rico
  10. 3.0 7 km SE of Maria Antonia, Puerto Rico
  11. 2.9 2 km SSE of Pole Ojea, Puerto Rico
  12. 2.7 1 km N of Guayanilla, Puerto Rico
  13. 3.1 6 km W of La Parguera, Puerto Rico
  14. 2.2 5 km SW of La Parguera, Puerto Rico
  15. 2.8 3 km S of Pole Ojea, 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 1,600 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.