QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.3md

Earthquake near Toa Baja, PR

No earthquake was likely felt in Toa Baja in the 24 hours to 6:00 am AST (10:00 UTC). The last one was M 4.8, 92 km (57 mi) SW, at 9:19 am AST on 18 September 2026, estimated intensity III (weak) in town; 86 felt reports to USGS. Every earthquake near Toa Baja

This page: a magnitude 3.3 earthquake was recorded in Toa Baja, PR, at 2:49 pm AST on 14 July 2022 (18:49 UTC), 107 km deep.

USGS: 1 km SE of Toa Baja, Puerto Rico

20 km (12 mi) W of San Juan, PR · 11 km (7 mi) WNW of Bayamón, PR

2:49 pm AST, Jul 14, 2022 · · 107 km deep · released about 1.5 tons of TNT

Every earthquake near Toa Baja Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Dorado Municipio 5 kmToa Baja Municipio 6 kmToa Alta Municipio 8 kmVega Alta Municipio 9 kmCataño Municipio 11 kmBayamón Municipio 13 kmVega Baja Municipio 16 kmNaranjito Municipio 16 kmCorozal Municipio 16 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
2:49 pm AST on 14 July 2022 ()
Where
in Toa Baja, PR · earthquakes near Toa Baja
Magnitude
M 3.3 (md)
Depth
107 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Dorado Municipio, 5 km NNW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1580 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. 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: Campanilla, Ingenio, Dorado, Candelaria Arenas, San José, Río Lajas.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 1.5 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.3 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 110,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 5,100× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 3,600× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 3.3 about 1.5 tons of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 3.1× 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 4.4 on 2018-12-09 — about 40 times the energy of this one.

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

  1. 5.8 12 km N of Garrochales, Puerto Rico · 36 km WNW of this epicentre
  2. 5.1 3 km W of Aguas Buenas, Puerto Rico · 23 km SSE of this epicentre
  3. 5.0 3 km N of Brenas, Puerto Rico · 12 km NW 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 18.4328, -66.2493. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Dorado Municipio, PR 5 km (3 mi) NNW earthquakes near Dorado Municipio
Toa Baja Municipio, PR 6 km (4 mi) ENE earthquakes near Toa Baja Municipio
Toa Alta Municipio, PR 8 km (5 mi) S earthquakes near Toa Alta Municipio
Vega Alta Municipio, PR 9 km (6 mi) W earthquakes near Vega Alta Municipio
Cataño Municipio, PR 11 km (7 mi) E earthquakes near Cataño Municipio
Bayamón Municipio, PR 13 km (8 mi) SE earthquakes near Bayamón Municipio

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 3.3 1 km S of Comerío, Puerto Rico
  2. 3.2 2 km ESE of Mucarabones, Puerto Rico
  3. 3.2 17 km N of Tierras Nuevas Poniente, Puerto Rico
  4. 3.0 4 km NNW of Vega Baja, Puerto Rico
  5. 2.0 0 km ENE of Parcelas La Milagrosa, Puerto Rico
  6. 3.2 3 km ENE of Guaynabo, Puerto Rico
  7. 2.3 3 km ESE of Comerío, Puerto Rico
  8. 1.8 3 km SW of Naranjito, Puerto Rico
  9. 3.4 1 km SSW of Pájaros, Puerto Rico
  10. 3.5 3 km S of Animas, Puerto Rico
  11. 2.7 16 km NE of Arecibo, Puerto Rico
  12. 2.8 13 km N of Levittown, Puerto Rico
  13. 3.5 1 km NNW of Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico
  14. 2.6 5 km WNW of Jagual, Puerto Rico
  15. 2.4 6 km ESE of Villalba, 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.