QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.3md

10 km SW of Esperanza, Puerto Rico

· 16 km deep · released about 79 lb of TNT

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10 km30 km60 km120 km N Vieques Municipio 16 kmCeiba Municipio 27 kmHumacao Municipio 29 kmNaguabo Municipio 30 kmYabucoa Municipio 35 kmMaunabo Municipio 38 kmLas Piedras Municipio 40 kmFajardo Municipio 41 kmCulebra Municipio 41 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 2.3 (md)
Depth
16 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Vieques Municipio, 16 km NE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1449 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 79 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.3 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 190,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 130,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 12× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.3 about 79 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 18.0247, -65.5342. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Vieques Municipio, PR 16 km (10 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Vieques Municipio
Ceiba Municipio, PR 27 km (17 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Ceiba Municipio
Humacao Municipio, PR 29 km (18 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Humacao Municipio
Naguabo Municipio, PR 30 km (18 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Naguabo Municipio
Yabucoa Municipio, PR 35 km (22 mi) E of here earthquakes near Yabucoa Municipio
Maunabo Municipio, PR 38 km (24 mi) E of here earthquakes near Maunabo Municipio

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.4 2 km NW of Punta Santiago, Puerto Rico
  2. 3.4 3 km NNE of Benitez, Puerto Rico
  3. 2.9 2 km NNW of Punta Santiago, Puerto Rico
  4. 2.8 29 km S of Esperanza, Puerto Rico
  5. 2.8 8 km S of Esperanza, Puerto Rico
  6. 2.3 10 km S of Emajagua, Puerto Rico
  7. 2.7 9 km S of Culebra, Puerto Rico
  8. 2.8 Puerto Rico region
  9. 2.2 Puerto Rico region
  10. 3.1 16 km SSE of Esperanza, Puerto Rico
  11. 3.1 Puerto Rico region
  12. 2.5 9 km S of Esperanza, Puerto Rico
  13. 2.5 17 km SSE of Lamboglia, Puerto Rico
  14. 2.9 11 km WNW of Culebra, Puerto Rico
  15. 2.8 Puerto Rico region

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 4.8 on 2021-10-08 — it released about 6,000 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.