QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.0md

96 km NNE of San Juan, Puerto Rico

Yes. A magnitude 3.0 earthquake was recorded 96 km NNE of San Juan, Puerto Rico, at 4:39 am AST on 16 August 2022 (08:39 UTC), 14 km deep.

· 14 km deep · released about 990 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Loíza Municipio 97 kmCataño Municipio 101 kmSan Juan Municipio 101 kmToa Baja Municipio 101 kmDorado Municipio 102 kmCarolina Municipio 102 kmRío Grande Municipio 104 kmLuquillo Municipio 106 kmFajardo Municipio 107 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
Magnitude
M 3.0 (md)
Depth
14 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Loíza Municipio, 97 km S
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1549 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 34 km (21 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 990 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.0 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 340,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 15,000× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 11,000× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 3.0 about 990 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 4.0 on 2019-06-21 — about 31 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists one earthquake of M5 or more within 50 km:

  1. 5.1 92 km N of Suárez, Puerto Rico · 15 km ESE 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 19.3098, -65.8572. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Loíza Municipio, PR 97 km (60 mi) S earthquakes near Loíza Municipio
Cataño Municipio, PR 101 km (63 mi) SSW earthquakes near Cataño Municipio
San Juan Municipio, PR 101 km (63 mi) SSW earthquakes near San Juan Municipio
Toa Baja Municipio, PR 101 km (63 mi) SSW earthquakes near Toa Baja Municipio
Dorado Municipio, PR 102 km (64 mi) SSW earthquakes near Dorado Municipio
Carolina Municipio, PR 102 km (64 mi) S earthquakes near Carolina Municipio

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 3.9 126 km NNE of San Juan, Puerto Rico
  2. 3.9 130 km NNE of San Juan, Puerto Rico
  3. 3.8 93 km N of Suárez, Puerto Rico
  4. 3.9 123 km NNE of San Juan, Puerto Rico
  5. 3.6 97 km N of Suárez, Puerto Rico
  6. 3.7 116 km N of Suárez, Puerto Rico
  7. 3.4 111 km N of Suárez, Puerto Rico
  8. 3.4 132 km N of Suárez, Puerto Rico
  9. 3.6 111 km N of Suárez, Puerto Rico
  10. 3.6 140 km N of Suárez, Puerto Rico
  11. 3.7 82 km NNE of Suárez, Puerto Rico
  12. 3.8 118 km N of Suárez, Puerto Rico
  13. 3.6 142 km N of Suárez, Puerto Rico
  14. 3.9 98 km NNE of San Juan, Puerto Rico
  15. 3.7 119 km N of Suárez, 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.