QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 4.2md

12 km S of Guánica, Puerto Rico

· 12 km deep · released about 30 tons of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Guánica Municipio 10 kmGuayanilla Municipio 19 kmLajas Municipio 20 kmSabana Grande Municipio 25 kmYauco Municipio 25 kmPeñuelas Municipio 26 kmSan Germán Municipio 31 kmCabo Rojo Municipio 33 kmPonce Municipio 35 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 4.2 (md)
Depth
12 km below the surface
Felt
24 reports · strongest reported intensity V
Measured shaking
intensity IV (ShakeMap)
USGS impact alert
green
Nearest
Guánica Municipio, 10 km NNW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1436 days ago

This was a light earthquake. It is usually felt clearly nearby and can rattle windows and dishes, but damage is uncommon. 24 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 30 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 5.2 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 5,600× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 250× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 180× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 4.2 about 30 tons of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 63× 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 17.8610, -66.9003. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Guánica Municipio, PR 10 km (6 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Guánica Municipio
Guayanilla Municipio, PR 19 km (12 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Guayanilla Municipio
Lajas Municipio, PR 20 km (12 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Lajas Municipio
Sabana Grande Municipio, PR 25 km (16 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Sabana Grande Municipio
Yauco Municipio, PR 25 km (16 mi) S of here earthquakes near Yauco Municipio
Peñuelas Municipio, PR 26 km (16 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Peñuelas 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. 3.5 2 km SW of Indios, Puerto Rico
  2. 3.6 2 km SW of Indios, Puerto Rico
  3. 3.3 11 km S of Guánica, Puerto Rico
  4. 2.0 5 km WSW of Fuig, Puerto Rico
  5. 2.9 1 km SW of Indios, Puerto Rico
  6. 2.1 12 km SSE of Guánica, Puerto Rico
  7. 2.6 11 km S of Guánica, Puerto Rico
  8. 2.3 Puerto Rico region
  9. 2.1 12 km SSE of Guánica, Puerto Rico
  10. 2.1 3 km E of Maria Antonia, Puerto Rico
  11. 3.0 12 km S of Guánica, Puerto Rico
  12. 1.8 7 km ESE of La Parguera, Puerto Rico
  13. 2.1 10 km S of Guánica, Puerto Rico
  14. 1.9 4 km WSW of Guánica, Puerto Rico
  15. 2.1 2 km NNW of Tallaboa, 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 2,000 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.