QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 4.5ml

6 km WSW of La Parguera, Puerto Rico

· 11 km deep · released about 74 tons of TNT

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10 km30 km60 km120 km N Lajas Municipio 7 kmCabo Rojo Municipio 11 kmGuánica Municipio 18 kmSan Germán Municipio 19 kmHormigueros Municipio 21 kmSabana Grande Municipio 22 kmYauco Municipio 30 kmMaricao Municipio 31 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 4.5 (ml)
Depth
11 km below the surface
Felt
224 reports · strongest reported intensity V
Measured shaking
intensity V (ShakeMap)
USGS impact alert
green
Nearest
Lajas Municipio, 7 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. 224 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 74 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 5.5 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 2,300× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 100× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 72× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 4.5 about 74 tons of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 150× 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 17.9443, -67.0966. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Lajas Municipio, PR 7 km (4 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Lajas Municipio
Cabo Rojo Municipio, PR 11 km (7 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Cabo Rojo Municipio
Guánica Municipio, PR 18 km (11 mi) W of here earthquakes near Guánica Municipio
San Germán Municipio, PR 19 km (12 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near San Germán Municipio
Hormigueros Municipio, PR 21 km (13 mi) S of here earthquakes near Hormigueros Municipio
Sabana Grande Municipio, PR 22 km (14 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. 2.5 8 km S of Guánica, Puerto Rico
  2. 3.3 2 km S of Magas Arriba, Puerto Rico
  3. 2.2 6 km SSE of Maria Antonia, Puerto Rico
  4. 3.0 7 km SE of Maria Antonia, Puerto Rico
  5. 2.9 2 km SSE of Pole Ojea, Puerto Rico
  6. 2.7 1 km N of Guayanilla, Puerto Rico
  7. 3.1 6 km W of La Parguera, Puerto Rico
  8. 2.2 5 km SW of La Parguera, Puerto Rico
  9. 2.8 3 km S of Pole Ojea, Puerto Rico
  10. 3.0 6 km SW of Liborio Negron Torres, Puerto Rico
  11. 2.3 5 km S of Pole Ojea, Puerto Rico
  12. 3.1 5 km SW of La Parguera, Puerto Rico
  13. 3.2 10 km SSW of La Playa, Puerto Rico
  14. 2.3 4 km SW of La Parguera, Puerto Rico
  15. 2.5 4 km S of Guánica, 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 810 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.