Earthquake near Liborio Negron Torres, PR

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage.

At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 33 km (21 mi) from the epicentre. In Liborio Negron Torres, 6 km away, the estimate is intensity III (weak). Estimated from magnitude, depth and distance with the intensity equation USGS Did You Feel It? uses; felt reports, where there are any, are the measurement.

Likely felt in: San Germán 11 km, intensity III · Yauco 14 km, intensity II · Guayanilla 20 km, intensity II · Pole Ojea 22 km, intensity II · Magas Arriba 22 km, intensity II · Puerto Real 23 km, intensity II · Tallaboa 28 km, intensity II · Mayagüez 28 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 860 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.0 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 390,000× the energy of this one
2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 18,000× the energy of this one
3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 12,000× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 3.0 about 860 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.

For this area

The largest earthquake within 50 km since 2016 was M 6.4 on 2020-01-07 — about 140,000 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 3 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km:

1. 5.8 4 km E of Moca, Puerto Rico · 45 km NNW of this epicentre May 16, 2010
2. 5.2 19 km SW of Stella, Puerto Rico · 46 km WNW of this epicentre Dec 17, 2011
3. 5.1 21 km SW of Stella, Puerto Rico · 46 km WNW of this epicentre Dec 17, 2011

Since 2016: the QuakeIndex catalogue (US, M1.5+), built from the USGS FDSN event service. Before 2016: USGS ComCat, M5+ from 1900. Distances are between epicentres. This is the record, not a forecast.

Where

Epicentre 18.0016, -66.9791. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 3.3 6 km WSW of La Parguera, Puerto Rico 14:40 UTC
2. 3.2 7 km WSW of La Parguera, Puerto Rico 14:31 UTC
3. 3.3 7 km WSW of La Parguera, Puerto Rico 14:12 UTC
4. 2.9 7 km WSW of La Parguera, Puerto Rico 14:02 UTC
5. 2.7 5 km WSW of La Parguera, Puerto Rico 11:05 UTC
6. 3.0 6 km E of La Parguera, Puerto Rico 21:28 UTC
7. 2.3 4 km WSW of La Parguera, Puerto Rico 20:06 UTC
8. 3.2 5 km SW of La Parguera, Puerto Rico 15:57 UTC
9. 3.0 3 km SW of La Parguera, Puerto Rico 14:56 UTC
10. 2.5 6 km WSW of La Parguera, Puerto Rico 10:07 UTC
11. 1.9 5 km SW of La Parguera, Puerto Rico 03:49 UTC
12. 3.1 2 km SW of Guánica, Puerto Rico 23:18 UTC
13. 2.2 12 km SSE of Maria Antonia, Puerto Rico 08:53 UTC
14. 2.4 3 km E of La Parguera, Puerto Rico 08:28 UTC
15. 2.7 11 km SSE of Guánica, Puerto Rico 02:16 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 17:02 UTC. QuakeIndex does not forecast aftershocks. When USGS issues an operational aftershock forecast it appears on the USGS event page.

On USGS

• The official USGS event page — the source of record for every value above
• Did you feel it? Report it to USGS — reports go to USGS, not to us
• ShakeMap for this event, when USGS has produced one

QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.