QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.9md

2 km SSW of Utuado, Puerto Rico

· 140 km deep · released about 11 tons of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N Utuado Municipio 3 kmAdjuntas Municipio 9 kmJayuya Municipio 13 kmLares Municipio 17 kmFlorida Municipio 20 kmArecibo Municipio 21 kmCiales Municipio 21 kmHatillo Municipio 23 kmYauco Municipio 24 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
140 km below the surface
Felt
5 reports · strongest reported intensity II
Measured shaking
intensity II (ShakeMap)
Nearest
Utuado Municipio, 3 km NNE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 718 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 5 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 11 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 5.8 710× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 500× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 3.9 about 11 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.

Where

Epicentre 18.2481, -66.7080. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Utuado Municipio, PR 3 km (2 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Utuado Municipio
Adjuntas Municipio, PR 9 km (6 mi) NE of here earthquakes near Adjuntas Municipio
Jayuya Municipio, PR 13 km (8 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Jayuya Municipio
Lares Municipio, PR 17 km (11 mi) E of here earthquakes near Lares Municipio
Florida Municipio, PR 20 km (13 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Florida Municipio
Arecibo Municipio, PR 21 km (13 mi) S of here earthquakes near Arecibo Municipio

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.8 6 km SSW of Guánica, Puerto Rico
  2. 2.5 2 km WSW of La Parguera, Puerto Rico
  3. 2.6 1 km WSW of La Parguera, Puerto Rico
  4. 2.8 12 km SSE of Maria Antonia, Puerto Rico
  5. 2.8 1 km W of La Parguera, Puerto Rico
  6. 2.4 2 km W of La Parguera, Puerto Rico
  7. 2.3 5 km E of La Parguera, Puerto Rico
  8. 2.5 6 km SW of Guánica, Puerto Rico
  9. 1.7 2 km NE of Magas Arriba, Puerto Rico
  10. 2.5 5 km WSW of Guánica, Puerto Rico
  11. 2.2 6 km SSW of Tallaboa, Puerto Rico
  12. 2.5 4 km WSW of Guánica, Puerto Rico
  13. 2.1 1 km S of Yauco, Puerto Rico
  14. 2.3 6 km ENE of La Parguera, Puerto Rico
  15. 1.9 2 km SSE of Guánica, 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 5,600 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.