Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist
M 3.8md
43 km ESE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
Yes. A magnitude 3.8 earthquake was recorded 43 km ESE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, at 3:31 am AST on 8 January 2025 (07:31 UTC), 81 km deep.
- When
- Magnitude
- M 3.8 (md)
- Depth
- 81 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Nearest
- Mayagüez Municipio, 38 km SSE
- Status
- Reviewed by a seismologist
USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 601 days ago
Earthquake alerts for Rincón, PR
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Alerts are on for .
Not a warning. An alert comes after USGS publishes a quake, usually minutes after the shaking. For early warning use ShakeAlert, through your phone's Wireless Emergency Alerts or the MyShake app.
This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage.
At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 7 km (4 mi) from the epicentre. 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 7.1 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.8 would have released about 32 times as much.
- Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 24,000× the energy of this one
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,100× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 760× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 3.8 about 7.1 tons of TNT
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 15× 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 4.5 on 2021-10-14 — about 10 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 18.3918, -68.0408. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mayagüez Municipio, PR | 38 km (24 mi) | SSE | earthquakes near Mayagüez Municipio |
| Rincón Municipio, PR | 84 km (52 mi) | E | earthquakes near Rincón Municipio |
| Aguada Municipio, PR | 90 km (56 mi) | E | earthquakes near Aguada Municipio |
| Aguadilla Municipio, PR | 95 km (59 mi) | E | earthquakes near Aguadilla Municipio |
| Añasco Municipio, PR | 97 km (60 mi) | E | earthquakes near Añasco Municipio |
| Cabo Rojo Municipio, PR | 101 km (63 mi) | ESE | earthquakes near Cabo Rojo Municipio |
Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.
Aftershocks so far
42 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.
- 3.4 47 km SE of Boca de Yuma, Dominican Republic
- 3.4 51 km SE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
- 3.4 78 km ESE of Boca de Yuma, Dominican Republic
- 3.4 9 km SSW of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
- 3.3 34 km NE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
- 3.2 72 km SE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
- 3.7 66 km SE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
- 3.7 24 km SE of Boca de Yuma, Dominican Republic
- 4.0 45 km SE of Boca de Yuma, Dominican Republic
- 3.1 63 km SE of Boca de Yuma, Dominican Republic
- 3.8 26 km NE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
- 3.5 17 km ENE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
- 3.7 39 km WNW of Rincón, Puerto Rico
- 3.8 29 km NE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
- 3.9 29 km NE of Punta Cana, 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
- The official USGS event page — the source of record for every value above
- Did you feel it? Report it to USGS — reports go to USGS, not to us
- ShakeMap for this event, when USGS has produced one
QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.