QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.9md

20 km SW of San Rafael del Yuma, Dominican Republic

Yes. A magnitude 3.9 earthquake was recorded 20 km SW of San Rafael del Yuma, Dominican Republic at 06:06 UTC on 2024-03-15, 128 km deep.

· 128 km deep · released about 10 tons of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Mayagüez Municipio 101 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 3.9 (md)
Depth
128 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Mayagüez Municipio, 101 km ESE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 907 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage.

At this magnitude and depth it was probably too small to be felt, even directly above it. 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.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 10 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.9 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 16,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 730× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 520× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 3.9 about 10 tons of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 22× 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.

For this area

The largest earthquake within 50 km in our catalogue was M 5.3 on 2019-02-04 — about 130 times the energy of this one.

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 18.2973, -68.8146. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Mayagüez Municipio, PR 101 km (63 mi) ESE earthquakes near Mayagüez Municipio

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 3.9 12 km S of La Romana, Dominican Republic
  2. 3.5 37 km SSE of Boca de Yuma, Dominican Republic
  3. 4.0 34 km S of Boca de Yuma, Dominican Republic
  4. 3.8 27 km SE of Boca de Yuma, Dominican Republic
  5. 3.9 23 km SSW of Boca de Yuma, Dominican Republic
  6. 4.1 10 km SSW of Salvaleón de Higüey, Dominican Republic
  7. 3.7 16 km SW of Boca de Yuma, Dominican Republic
  8. 3.5 20 km S of Boca de Yuma, Dominican Republic
  9. 3.1 40 km SSE of Boca de Yuma, Dominican Republic
  10. 3.7 34 km SSE of Boca de Yuma, Dominican Republic
  11. 3.8 5 km SSE of Otra Banda, Dominican Republic
  12. 2.9 39 km S of La Romana, Dominican Republic
  13. 4.0 21 km SSE of La Romana, Dominican Republic
  14. 4.1 9 km NNE of Boca de Yuma, Dominican Republic
  15. 3.4 8 km NNW of Guaymate, Dominican Republic

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.

On USGS

QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.