QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.5md

18 km S of Esperanza, Puerto Rico

· 14 km deep · released about 2.8 tons of TNT

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10 km30 km60 km120 km N Vieques Municipio 22 kmCeiba Municipio 40 kmHumacao Municipio 42 kmNaguabo Municipio 43 kmYabucoa Municipio 46 kmCulebra Municipio 47 kmMaunabo Municipio 48 kmFajardo Municipio 53 kmLas Piedras Municipio 53 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
14 km below the surface
Felt
1 report · strongest reported intensity III
Nearest
Vieques Municipio, 22 km N
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1338 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 1 person has reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 2.8 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 61,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,700× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,900× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 3.5 about 2.8 tons of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 5.8× 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 17.9293, -65.4505. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Vieques Municipio, PR 22 km (14 mi) S of here earthquakes near Vieques Municipio
Ceiba Municipio, PR 40 km (25 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Ceiba Municipio
Humacao Municipio, PR 42 km (26 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Humacao Municipio
Naguabo Municipio, PR 43 km (27 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Naguabo Municipio
Yabucoa Municipio, PR 46 km (28 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Yabucoa Municipio
Culebra Municipio, PR 47 km (29 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Culebra Municipio

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.7 5 km SSE of Esperanza, Puerto Rico
  2. 2.8 24 km ESE of El Negro, Puerto Rico
  3. 3.2 1 km NE of Bajandas, Puerto Rico
  4. 2.5 9 km SE of El Negro, Puerto Rico
  5. 3.4 1 km W of Punta Santiago, Puerto Rico
  6. 3.0 33 km SSW of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  7. 2.9 1 km W of Punta Santiago, Puerto Rico
  8. 2.9 9 km SSE of Bajandas, Puerto Rico
  9. 2.6 19 km SW of Esperanza, Puerto Rico
  10. 2.0 1 km NNW of Punta Santiago, Puerto Rico
  11. 2.4 2 km NW of Punta Santiago, Puerto Rico
  12. 2.9 2 km NNW of Punta Santiago, Puerto Rico
  13. 2.8 29 km S of Esperanza, Puerto Rico
  14. 2.8 8 km S of Esperanza, Puerto Rico
  15. 2.3 10 km S 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 86 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.