Earthquake near La Parguera, 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 20 km (12 mi) from the epicentre. In La Parguera, 4 km away, the estimate is intensity II (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: Pole Ojea 11 km, intensity II · San Germán 14 km, intensity II · Puerto Real 17 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 190 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.5 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 80,000× the energy of this one
2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 57,000× the energy of this one
3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 5.1× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 2.5 about 190 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 640,000 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 · 49 km N of this epicentre May 16, 2010
2. 5.2 19 km SW of Stella, Puerto Rico · 39 km NW of this epicentre Dec 17, 2011
3. 5.1 21 km SW of Stella, Puerto Rico · 38 km NW 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 17.9605, -67.0863. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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. 3.1 3 km SE of Tallaboa Alta, Puerto Rico 06:45 UTC
2. 2.8 8 km SSW of Tallaboa, Puerto Rico 05:47 UTC
3. 3.1 7 km WSW of La Parguera, Puerto Rico 04:50 UTC
4. 2.5 5 km S of Guánica, Puerto Rico 03:49 UTC
5. 3.4 6 km ESE of Pole Ojea, Puerto Rico 00:46 UTC
6. 2.6 8 km ESE of Pole Ojea, Puerto Rico 23:58 UTC
7. 3.3 7 km SW of La Parguera, Puerto Rico 23:17 UTC
8. 3.3 6 km WSW of La Parguera, Puerto Rico 22:50 UTC
9. 2.3 Puerto Rico region 21:26 UTC
10. 2.3 2 km SE of Maria Antonia, Puerto Rico 10:42 UTC
11. 2.0 4 km WSW of La Parguera, Puerto Rico 10:10 UTC
12. 2.3 3 km WSW of Guánica, Puerto Rico 23:53 UTC
13. 2.5 6 km S of Guánica, Puerto Rico 02:49 UTC
14. 3.3 4 km SSE of Guánica, Puerto Rico 02:43 UTC
15. 2.6 1 km ESE of Yauco, Puerto Rico 19:00 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 20:33 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.