QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.4md

5 km SSW of Potala Pastillo, Puerto Rico

· 12 km deep · released about 1.6 tons of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Juana Díaz Municipio 7 kmPonce Municipio 12 kmSanta Isabel Municipio 14 kmVillalba Municipio 22 kmPeñuelas Municipio 24 kmCoamo Municipio 25 kmSalinas Municipio 27 kmGuayanilla Municipio 31 kmJayuya Municipio 31 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 3.4 (md)
Depth
12 km below the surface
Felt
3 reports · strongest reported intensity II
Nearest
Juana Díaz Municipio, 7 km NNE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1394 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 3 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 1.6 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.3 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 110,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 4,700× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 3,300× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 3.4 about 1.6 tons of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 3.3× 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 17.9420, -66.5168. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Juana Díaz Municipio, PR 7 km (4 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Juana Díaz Municipio
Ponce Municipio, PR 12 km (7 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Ponce Municipio
Santa Isabel Municipio, PR 14 km (9 mi) W of here earthquakes near Santa Isabel Municipio
Villalba Municipio, PR 22 km (13 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Villalba Municipio
Peñuelas Municipio, PR 24 km (15 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Peñuelas Municipio
Coamo Municipio, PR 25 km (15 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Coamo Municipio

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.4 0 km SW of Indios, Puerto Rico
  2. 2.3 5 km SSW of Potala Pastillo, Puerto Rico
  3. 2.4 4 km SE of Tallaboa Alta, Puerto Rico
  4. 1.7 4 km ESE of Indios, Puerto Rico
  5. 1.9 4 km SE of Maria Antonia, Puerto Rico
  6. 3.0 5 km SW of Central Aguirre, Puerto Rico
  7. 2.6 0 km NNE of Guánica, Puerto Rico
  8. 2.8 3 km SSW of Tallaboa, Puerto Rico
  9. 3.3 5 km SW of Central Aguirre, Puerto Rico
  10. 2.1 5 km SE of Indios, Puerto Rico
  11. 3.0 5 km SW of Central Aguirre, Puerto Rico
  12. 2.3 4 km WSW of Ponce, Puerto Rico
  13. 2.1 5 km WSW of Guánica, Puerto Rico
  14. 2.2 0 km S of Guánica, Puerto Rico
  15. 1.8 2 km S of Indios, 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 38,000 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.