QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.3md

65 km N of Hatillo, Puerto Rico

Yes. A magnitude 3.3 earthquake was recorded 65 km N of Hatillo, Puerto Rico, at 1:14 am AST on 15 May 2023 (05:14 UTC), 14 km deep.

· 14 km deep · released about 1.3 tons of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N Isabela Municipio 69 kmQuebradillas Municipio 69 kmCamuy Municipio 71 kmHatillo Municipio 71 kmArecibo Municipio 74 kmBarceloneta Municipio 74 kmAguadilla Municipio 74 kmManatí Municipio 79 kmMoca Municipio 82 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 3.3 (md)
Depth
14 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Isabela Municipio, 69 km SSW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1277 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 50 km (31 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 1.3 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.3 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 130,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 5,600× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 4,000× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 3.3 about 1.3 tons of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 2.8× more

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 6.0 on 2019-09-24 — about 11,000 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 15 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

  1. 7.7 45 km N of San Antonio, Puerto Rico · 36 km WSW of this epicentre
  2. 6.4 61 km N of Hatillo, Puerto Rico · 5 km SSE of this epicentre
  3. 6.0 81 km N of Isabela, Puerto Rico · 19 km NNW of this epicentre
  4. 6.0 67 km NNW of San Antonio, Puerto Rico · 44 km W of this epicentre
  5. 5.9 78 km N of Arecibo, Puerto Rico · 22 km ENE 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 19.0802, -66.8337. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Isabela Municipio, PR 69 km (43 mi) SSW earthquakes near Isabela Municipio
Quebradillas Municipio, PR 69 km (43 mi) S earthquakes near Quebradillas Municipio
Camuy Municipio, PR 71 km (44 mi) S earthquakes near Camuy Municipio
Hatillo Municipio, PR 71 km (44 mi) S earthquakes near Hatillo Municipio
Arecibo Municipio, PR 74 km (46 mi) SSE earthquakes near Arecibo Municipio
Barceloneta Municipio, PR 74 km (46 mi) SSE earthquakes near Barceloneta Municipio

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 3.2 46 km N of San Antonio, Puerto Rico
  2. 3.0 Mona Passage
  3. 3.8 72 km NNW of San Antonio, Puerto Rico
  4. 4.2 68 km N of Isabela, Puerto Rico
  5. 3.7 75 km N of Isabela, Puerto Rico
  6. 2.8 31 km N of Isabela, Puerto Rico
  7. 3.7 63 km N of Hatillo, Puerto Rico
  8. 3.6 58 km N of San Antonio, Puerto Rico
  9. 3.4 48 km N of Hatillo, Puerto Rico
  10. 3.1 18 km NNW of Camuy, Puerto Rico
  11. 3.2 21 km N of Quebradillas, Puerto Rico
  12. 3.8 39 km N of Carrizales, Puerto Rico
  13. 3.2 65 km NNW of San Antonio, Puerto Rico
  14. 3.3 38 km NNW of San Antonio, Puerto Rico
  15. 3.6 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.

On USGS

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