QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.5md

13 km SE of Esperanza, Puerto Rico

· 12 km deep · released about 3.2 tons of TNT

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10 km30 km60 km120 km N Vieques Municipio 13 kmCulebra Municipio 35 kmCeiba Municipio 37 kmNaguabo Municipio 43 kmHumacao Municipio 45 kmFajardo Municipio 47 kmYabucoa Municipio 51 kmLuquillo Municipio 52 kmMaunabo Municipio 54 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 3.5 (md)
Depth
12 km below the surface
Felt
4 reports · strongest reported intensity II
Nearest
Vieques Municipio, 13 km NNW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1744 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 4 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 3.2 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.5 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 53,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,400× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,700× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 3.5 about 3.2 tons of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 6.7× 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 18.0158, -65.3815. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Vieques Municipio, PR 13 km (8 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Vieques Municipio
Culebra Municipio, PR 35 km (22 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Culebra Municipio
Ceiba Municipio, PR 37 km (23 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Ceiba Municipio
Naguabo Municipio, PR 43 km (27 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Naguabo Municipio
Humacao Municipio, PR 45 km (28 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Humacao Municipio
Fajardo Municipio, PR 47 km (29 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Fajardo Municipio

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.9 13 km S of Esperanza, Puerto Rico
  2. 2.4 15 km S of Esperanza, Puerto Rico
  3. 2.3 6 km S of Esperanza, Puerto Rico
  4. 2.6 2 km NW of Punta Santiago, Puerto Rico
  5. 3.0 36 km SSW of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  6. 2.7 2 km NW of Punta Santiago, Puerto Rico
  7. 3.5 18 km S of Esperanza, Puerto Rico
  8. 2.3 2 km NNW of Punta Santiago, Puerto Rico
  9. 3.3 36 km SSW of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  10. 2.9 33 km SSW of Esperanza, Puerto Rico
  11. 2.3 10 km SW of Esperanza, Puerto Rico
  12. 3.6 5 km E of Candelero Arriba, Puerto Rico
  13. 3.1 9 km SE of Esperanza, Puerto Rico
  14. 3.0 10 km ENE of Luis M. Cintron, Puerto Rico
  15. 2.9 25 km SE of Emajagua, 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 4.8 on 2021-10-08 — it released about 75 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.