QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.5md

Earthquake near Villalba, PR

No earthquake was likely felt in Villalba in the 24 hours to 7:56 pm AST (23:56 UTC). The last one was M 3.0, 33 km (20 mi) SSE, at 7:09 pm AST on 5 November 2026, estimated intensity II (weak) in town. Every earthquake near Villalba

This page: a magnitude 3.5 earthquake was recorded 6 km (3 mi) east of Villalba, PR, at 3:45 pm AST on 24 January 2025 (19:45 UTC), 142 km deep.

USGS: 5 km E of Villalba, Puerto Rico

50 km (31 mi) SW of San Juan, PR · 24 km (15 mi) NE of Ponce, PR

3:45 pm AST, Jan 24, 2025 · · 142 km deep · released about 2.6 tons of TNT

Every earthquake near Villalba Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Villalba Municipio 3 kmCoamo Municipio 9 kmOrocovis Municipio 10 kmJuana Díaz Municipio 15 kmBarranquitas Municipio 16 kmJayuya Municipio 18 kmAibonito Municipio 18 kmSanta Isabel Municipio 20 kmCiales Municipio 20 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
3:45 pm AST on 24 January 2025 ()
Where
6 km (3 mi) east of Villalba, PR · earthquakes near Villalba
Magnitude
M 3.5 (md)
Depth
142 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Villalba Municipio, 3 km W
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 656 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. In Villalba, 6 km away, the estimate is intensity I (not felt). 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.

Earthquakes near other towns within 30 km: Guayabal, Los Llanos, Coamo, Río Cañas Abajo, Juana Díaz, Luis Llorens Torres.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 2.6 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 65,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,900× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 2,100× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 3.5 about 2.6 tons of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 5.4× 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 since 2016 was M 6.4 on 2020-01-07 — about 23,000 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 2 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km:

  1. 5.1 3 km W of Aguas Buenas, Puerto Rico · 35 km ENE of this epicentre
  2. 5.0 3 km N of Brenas, Puerto Rico · 43 km NNE of this epicentre

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 18.1280, -66.4393. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Villalba Municipio, PR 3 km (2 mi) W earthquakes near Villalba Municipio
Coamo Municipio, PR 9 km (6 mi) ESE earthquakes near Coamo Municipio
Orocovis Municipio, PR 10 km (6 mi) N earthquakes near Orocovis Municipio
Juana Díaz Municipio, PR 15 km (10 mi) SSW earthquakes near Juana Díaz Municipio
Barranquitas Municipio, PR 16 km (10 mi) ENE earthquakes near Barranquitas Municipio
Jayuya Municipio, PR 18 km (11 mi) WNW earthquakes near Jayuya Municipio

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.2 2 km ENE of Maria Antonia, Puerto Rico
  2. 2.8 5 km SE of Maria Antonia, Puerto Rico
  3. 2.8 5 km SE of Maria Antonia, Puerto Rico
  4. 2.7 6 km SE of Maria Antonia, Puerto Rico
  5. 2.3 2 km SW of Indios, Puerto Rico
  6. 3.1 1 km S of Toa Alta, Puerto Rico
  7. 2.4 6 km NE of Yauco, Puerto Rico
  8. 2.1 7 km SSE of Ponce, Puerto Rico
  9. 2.4 2 km E of Maria Antonia, Puerto Rico
  10. 2.4 3 km E of Tallaboa, Puerto Rico
  11. 2.4 10 km SSE of Indios, Puerto Rico
  12. 1.9 1 km NNE of Yauco, Puerto Rico
  13. 3.0 2 km ENE of Cidra, Puerto Rico
  14. 2.8 2 km NE of Yauco, Puerto Rico
  15. 2.0 3 km SSE of Maria Antonia, 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.

On USGS

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