QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.9md

Earthquake near Cayey, PR

No earthquake was likely felt in Cayey in the 24 hours to 5:29 pm AST (21:29 UTC). The last one was M 3.3, 38 km (24 mi) SW, at 8:40 am AST on 1 November 2026, estimated intensity II (weak) in town. Every earthquake near Cayey

This page: a magnitude 2.9 earthquake was recorded 3 km (2 mi) south of Cayey, PR, at 1:33 pm AST on 5 October 2025 (17:33 UTC), 17 km deep.

USGS: 2 km S of Cayey, Puerto Rico

37 km (23 mi) SSW of San Juan, PR · 21 km (13 mi) SW of Caguas, PR

1:33 pm AST, Oct 5, 2025 · · 17 km deep · released about 570 lb of TNT

Every earthquake near Cayey Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Cayey Municipio 2 kmCidra Municipio 10 kmAibonito Municipio 12 kmGuayama Municipio 13 kmComerío Municipio 16 kmSalinas Municipio 17 kmArroyo Municipio 18 kmCaguas Municipio 18 kmAguas Buenas Municipio 19 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
1:33 pm AST on 5 October 2025 ()
Where
3 km (2 mi) south of Cayey, PR · earthquakes near Cayey
Magnitude
M 2.9 (md)
Depth
17 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Cayey Municipio, 2 km NNE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 327 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, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 24 km (15 mi) from the epicentre. In Cayey, 3 km away, the estimate is intensity II (weak). 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.

Likely felt in: Cayey 3 km, intensity II · Guayama 13 km, intensity II · Sumidero 15 km, intensity II · Jagual 19 km, intensity II · Caguas 20 km, intensity II · Coamo 21 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 570 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.9 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 27,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 19,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 1.7× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.9 about 570 lb of TNT

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 4.6 on 2016-12-05 — about 420 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 · 19 km N of this epicentre
  2. 5.0 3 km N of Brenas, Puerto Rico · 50 km NNW 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 18.0876, -66.1621. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Cayey Municipio, PR 2 km (1 mi) NNE earthquakes near Cayey Municipio
Cidra Municipio, PR 10 km (6 mi) N earthquakes near Cidra Municipio
Aibonito Municipio, PR 12 km (7 mi) WNW earthquakes near Aibonito Municipio
Guayama Municipio, PR 13 km (8 mi) SSE earthquakes near Guayama Municipio
Comerío Municipio, PR 16 km (10 mi) NNW earthquakes near Comerío Municipio
Salinas Municipio, PR 17 km (10 mi) SW earthquakes near Salinas Municipio

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.2 3 km S of Río Cañas Abajo, Puerto Rico
  2. 1.9 4 km SE of Jagual, Puerto Rico
  3. 2.6 5 km NNW of Aguas Buenas, Puerto Rico
  4. 2.7 5 km WSW of Central Aguirre, Puerto Rico
  5. 2.1 5 km WSW of Central Aguirre, Puerto Rico
  6. 2.3 2 km S of G. L. Garcia, Puerto Rico
  7. 1.9 1 km ENE of Cayey, Puerto Rico
  8. 1.8 2 km E of Cayey, Puerto Rico
  9. 3.1 2 km NE of Bayamón, Puerto Rico
  10. 3.1 1 km SSE of Guaynabo, Puerto Rico
  11. 1.9 1 km E of Cayey, Puerto Rico
  12. 1.8 3 km NNE of Jobos, Puerto Rico
  13. 2.4 2 km WSW of Coto Laurel, Puerto Rico
  14. 2.1 1 km SSE of Santa Isabel, Puerto Rico
  15. 3.3 5 km NNE of Aguas Buenas, 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.