QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.6md

127 km NNE of Vieques, Puerto Rico

· 77 km deep · released about 3.5 tons of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N
Distance rings around the epicentre, with the nearest towns at their true direction. Not a shaking map — see the USGS ShakeMap for that.
When
Magnitude
M 3.6 (md)
Depth
77 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Fajardo Municipio, 123 km SSW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2 hours ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 3.5 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.6 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 48,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,100× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,500× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 3.6 about 3.5 tons of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 7.4× 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 4.9 on 2018-11-14 — about 95 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 8 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

  1. 6.0 112 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands · 41 km ESE of this epicentre
  2. 5.6 112 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands · 45 km ESE of this epicentre
  3. 5.1 107 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands · 40 km ESE of this epicentre
  4. 5.1 122 km NNE of Vieques, Puerto Rico · 6 km S of this epicentre
  5. 5.1 92 km N of Suárez, Puerto Rico · 50 km WSW 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 19.4623, -65.3035. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Fajardo Municipio, PR 123 km (77 mi) SSW earthquakes near Fajardo Municipio
Loíza Municipio, PR 132 km (82 mi) SSW earthquakes near Loíza Municipio
Carolina Municipio, PR 138 km (86 mi) SSW earthquakes near Carolina Municipio
San Juan Municipio, PR 141 km (88 mi) SW earthquakes near San Juan Municipio
Cataño Municipio, PR 144 km (89 mi) SW earthquakes near Cataño Municipio
Toa Baja Municipio, PR 146 km (91 mi) SW earthquakes near Toa Baja Municipio

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

Aftershocks so far

No further earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.

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.