QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.9md

3 km SW of Potala Pastillo, Puerto Rico

· 6.3 km deep · released about 630 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Juana Díaz Municipio 5 kmPonce Municipio 10 kmSanta Isabel Municipio 14 kmVillalba Municipio 19 kmCoamo Municipio 23 kmPeñuelas Municipio 23 kmSalinas Municipio 27 kmJayuya Municipio 28 kmOrocovis Municipio 29 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 2.9 (md)
Depth
6.3 km below the surface
Felt
1 report · strongest reported intensity I
Nearest
Juana Díaz Municipio, 5 km NE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1459 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 1 person has reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 630 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 24,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 17,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 1.5× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.9 about 630 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.

Where

Epicentre 17.9665, -66.5185. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Juana Díaz Municipio, PR 5 km (3 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Juana Díaz Municipio
Ponce Municipio, PR 10 km (6 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Ponce Municipio
Santa Isabel Municipio, PR 14 km (9 mi) W of here earthquakes near Santa Isabel Municipio
Villalba Municipio, PR 19 km (12 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Villalba Municipio
Coamo Municipio, PR 23 km (14 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Coamo Municipio
Peñuelas Municipio, PR 23 km (14 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Peñuelas Municipio

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 3.0 5 km SW of Central Aguirre, Puerto Rico
  2. 2.3 4 km WSW of Ponce, Puerto Rico
  3. 2.6 6 km ENE of La Parguera, Puerto Rico
  4. 2.1 5 km WSW of Guánica, Puerto Rico
  5. 2.2 0 km S of Guánica, Puerto Rico
  6. 1.8 2 km S of Indios, Puerto Rico
  7. 2.2 5 km S of Indios, Puerto Rico
  8. 2.6 5 km SW of Guánica, Puerto Rico
  9. 2.0 Puerto Rico region
  10. 2.3 4 km WSW of Fuig, Puerto Rico
  11. 2.0 7 km WSW of Guánica, Puerto Rico
  12. 2.8 6 km ESE of La Parguera, Puerto Rico
  13. 2.4 4 km SE of Indios, Puerto Rico
  14. 1.8 2 km W of Guánica, Puerto Rico
  15. 2.1 6 km SW of Guánica, 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.

For this area

The largest earthquake within 50 km in our catalogue was M 6.4 on 2020-01-07 — it released about 190,000 times the energy of this one.

From the QuakeIndex catalogue, built from the USGS FDSN event service.

On USGS

QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.