QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.8md

Earthquake near Luquillo, PR

No earthquake was likely felt in Luquillo in the 24 hours to 6:10 am AST (10:10 UTC). The last one was M 4.1, 61 km (38 mi) SE, at 5:44 am AST on 28 October 2026, estimated intensity II (weak) in town; 5 felt reports to USGS. Every earthquake near Luquillo

This page: a magnitude 2.8 earthquake was recorded 28 km (17 mi) north-northeast of Luquillo, PR, at 7:28 pm AST on 26 December 2022 (23:28 UTC), 22 km deep.

USGS: 27 km NNE of Luquillo, Puerto Rico

49 km (30 mi) ENE of San Juan, PR · 41 km (25 mi) NE of Carolina, PR

7:28 pm AST, Dec 26, 2022 · · 22 km deep · released about 460 lb of TNT

Every earthquake near Luquillo Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Fajardo Municipio 27 kmLuquillo Municipio 28 kmRío Grande Municipio 31 kmLoíza Municipio 35 kmCanóvanas Municipio 40 kmCarolina Municipio 41 kmCeiba Municipio 41 kmNaguabo Municipio 46 kmTrujillo Alto Municipio 48 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
7:28 pm AST on 26 December 2022 ()
Where
28 km (17 mi) north-northeast of Luquillo, PR · earthquakes near Luquillo
Magnitude
M 2.8 (md)
Depth
22 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Fajardo Municipio, 27 km SSE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1415 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 16 km (10 mi) from the epicentre. In Luquillo, 28 km away, the estimate is intensity II (weak). 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: Playa Fortuna, Vieques, Suárez, Palmer.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 460 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.8 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 33,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 23,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 2.1× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.8 about 460 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 4.8 on 2021-03-09 — about 1,000 times the energy of this one.

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

  1. 5.0 73 km NNE of Vieques, Puerto Rico · 46 km NNE 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 18.6178, -65.6607. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Fajardo Municipio, PR 27 km (17 mi) SSE earthquakes near Fajardo Municipio
Luquillo Municipio, PR 28 km (18 mi) S earthquakes near Luquillo Municipio
Río Grande Municipio, PR 31 km (19 mi) SSW earthquakes near Río Grande Municipio
Loíza Municipio, PR 35 km (22 mi) WSW earthquakes near Loíza Municipio
Canóvanas Municipio, PR 40 km (25 mi) SW earthquakes near Canóvanas Municipio
Carolina Municipio, PR 41 km (25 mi) SW earthquakes near Carolina Municipio

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 3.4 33 km NNW of Culebra, Puerto Rico
  2. 3.0 13 km N of Loíza, Puerto Rico
  3. 3.1 69 km N of Culebra, Puerto Rico
  4. 3.7 71 km NNE of Luquillo, Puerto Rico
  5. 3.4 69 km NNE of Suárez, Puerto Rico
  6. 3.3 59 km NNE of Luquillo, Puerto Rico
  7. 3.1 6 km ENE of San Juan, Puerto Rico
  8. 2.4 2 km NW of Punta Santiago, Puerto Rico
  9. 3.2 Puerto Rico region
  10. 3.4 3 km NNE of Benitez, Puerto Rico
  11. 2.9 2 km NNW of Punta Santiago, Puerto Rico
  12. 3.1 68 km NNE of Suárez, Puerto Rico
  13. 2.7 2 km WNW of Campo Rico, Puerto Rico
  14. 2.8 1 km W of San Isidro, Puerto Rico
  15. 2.9 11 km WNW of Culebra, 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.