QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 4.3md

144 km NNE of Vieques, Puerto Rico

Yes. A magnitude 4.3 earthquake was recorded 144 km NNE of Vieques, Puerto Rico, at 8:58 am AST on 1 March 2025 (12:58 UTC), 25 km deep.

· 25 km deep · released about 38 tons of TNT

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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 4.3 (md)
Depth
25 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 552 days ago

This was a light earthquake. It is usually felt clearly nearby and can rattle windows and dishes, but damage is uncommon.

At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 116 km (72 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 38 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 5.3 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 4,400× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 200× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 140× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 4.3 about 38 tons of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 80× 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 4.9 on 2018-11-14 — about 8.8 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 3 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km:

  1. 5.1 122 km NNE of Vieques, Puerto Rico · 26 km S of this epicentre
  2. 5.0 122 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands · 49 km ESE of this epicentre
  3. 5.0 109 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands · 49 km SE 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 19.6466, -65.3375. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 3.8 104 km NNW of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  2. 3.6 116 km NNW of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  3. 3.7 122 km N of Culebra, Puerto Rico
  4. 3.3 146 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  5. 3.4 133 km NNE of Vieques, Puerto Rico
  6. 3.8 102 km NNW of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  7. 3.5 131 km N of Suárez, Puerto Rico
  8. 3.5 141 km NNE of Vieques, Puerto Rico
  9. 3.5 138 km NNE of Vieques, Puerto Rico
  10. 3.6 96 km NNE of Vieques, Puerto Rico
  11. 3.6 99 km NNE of Vieques, Puerto Rico
  12. 3.5 119 km NNE of Vieques, Puerto Rico
  13. 3.7 139 km NNE of Vieques, Puerto Rico
  14. 3.8 138 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  15. 3.4 131 km NNE of Vieques, 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.