QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.9md

Earthquake near Bajandas, PR

No earthquake was likely felt in Bajandas in the 24 hours to 4:41 pm AST (20:41 UTC). The last one was M 4.1, 52 km (32 mi) ESE, at 5:44 am AST on 28 October 2026, estimated intensity II (weak) in town; 5 felt reports to USGS. Every earthquake near Bajandas

This page: a magnitude 2.9 earthquake was recorded 9 km (6 mi) south-southeast of Bajandas, PR, at 9:06 pm AST on 30 April 2023 (01:06 UTC), 9.1 km deep.

USGS: 9 km SSE of Bajandas, Puerto Rico

49 km (31 mi) SE of San Juan, PR · 35 km (22 mi) ESE of Caguas, PR

9:06 pm AST, Apr 30, 2023 · · 9.1 km deep · released about 610 lb of TNT

Every earthquake near Bajandas Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Humacao Municipio 7 kmYabucoa Municipio 12 kmNaguabo Municipio 14 kmLas Piedras Municipio 18 kmMaunabo Municipio 19 kmCeiba Municipio 23 kmJuncos Municipio 23 kmSan Lorenzo Municipio 26 kmPatillas Municipio 27 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
9:06 pm AST on 30 April 2023 ()
Where
9 km (6 mi) south-southeast of Bajandas, PR · earthquakes near Bajandas
Magnitude
M 2.9 (md)
Depth
9.1 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Humacao Municipio, 7 km NW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1291 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 29 km (18 mi) from the epicentre. In Bajandas, 9 km away, the estimate is intensity III (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.

Likely felt in: Humacao 12 km, intensity III · Emajagua 17 km, intensity II · Aguas Claras 21 km, intensity II · Jagual 28 km, intensity II · Fajardo 29 km, intensity II · Esperanza 29 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 610 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 25,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 18,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 1.6× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.9 about 610 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 2021-10-08 — about 790 times the energy of this one.

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

  1. 5.1 3 km W of Aguas Buenas, Puerto Rico · 46 km WNW 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 18.0822, -65.7443. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Humacao Municipio, PR 7 km (5 mi) NW earthquakes near Humacao Municipio
Yabucoa Municipio, PR 12 km (8 mi) WSW earthquakes near Yabucoa Municipio
Naguabo Municipio, PR 14 km (9 mi) N earthquakes near Naguabo Municipio
Las Piedras Municipio, PR 18 km (11 mi) NW earthquakes near Las Piedras Municipio
Maunabo Municipio, PR 19 km (11 mi) WSW earthquakes near Maunabo Municipio
Ceiba Municipio, PR 23 km (14 mi) NE earthquakes near Ceiba Municipio

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 3.3 4 km ENE of Guaynabo, Puerto Rico
  2. 2.6 Puerto Rico region
  3. 3.1 10 km S of Lamboglia, Puerto Rico
  4. 3.3 25 km SE of El Negro, Puerto Rico
  5. 2.5 Puerto Rico region
  6. 2.5 16 km SE of El Negro, Puerto Rico
  7. 2.3 6 km S of Punta Santiago, Puerto Rico
  8. 2.6 Puerto Rico region
  9. 2.6 2 km WNW of Bayamon, Puerto Rico
  10. 2.9 2 km NNE of Parcelas La Milagrosa, Puerto Rico
  11. 2.7 1 km W of Juncos, Puerto Rico
  12. 3.0 Puerto Rico region
  13. 3.0 Puerto Rico region
  14. 2.6 6 km S of Emajagua, Puerto Rico
  15. 2.7 5 km SSE of Esperanza, 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.