QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.9md

Earthquake near Parcelas La Milagrosa, PR

No earthquake was likely felt in Parcelas La Milagrosa in the 24 hours to 10:16 am AST (14:16 UTC). The last one was M 3.3, 41 km (26 mi) SW, at 8:40 am AST on 1 November 2026, estimated intensity II (weak) in town. Every earthquake near Parcelas La Milagrosa

This page: a magnitude 2.9 earthquake was recorded 2 km (2 mi) north-northeast of Parcelas La Milagrosa, PR, at 8:53 pm AST on 27 August 2023 (00:53 UTC), 79 km deep.

USGS: 2 km NNE of Parcelas La Milagrosa, Puerto Rico

27 km (17 mi) SSW of San Juan, PR · 16 km (10 mi) WSW of Caguas, PR

8:53 pm AST, Aug 27, 2023 · · 79 km deep · released about 630 lb of TNT

Every earthquake near Parcelas La Milagrosa Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Cidra Municipio 3 kmComerío Municipio 5 kmAguas Buenas Municipio 9 kmCayey Municipio 10 kmAibonito Municipio 11 kmNaranjito Municipio 13 kmBarranquitas Municipio 14 kmCaguas Municipio 14 kmBayamón Municipio 18 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
8:53 pm AST on 27 August 2023 ()
Where
2 km (2 mi) north-northeast of Parcelas La Milagrosa, PR · earthquakes near Parcelas La Milagrosa
Magnitude
M 2.9 (md)
Depth
79 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Cidra Municipio, 3 km SE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1172 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 it was probably too small to be felt, even directly above it. In Parcelas La Milagrosa, 2 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: Cidra, Comerío, Parcelas Nuevas, Santa Clara, Sumidero, Cayey.

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.

For this area

The largest earthquake within 50 km since 2016 was M 4.6 on 2016-12-05 — about 380 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 2 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km:

  1. 5.1 3 km W of Aguas Buenas, Puerto Rico · 9 km NNE of this epicentre
  2. 5.0 3 km N of Brenas, Puerto Rico · 38 km NNW 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 18.1917, -66.1813. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Cidra Municipio, PR 3 km (2 mi) SE earthquakes near Cidra Municipio
Comerío Municipio, PR 5 km (3 mi) NW earthquakes near Comerío Municipio
Aguas Buenas Municipio, PR 9 km (6 mi) NE earthquakes near Aguas Buenas Municipio
Cayey Municipio, PR 10 km (6 mi) SSE earthquakes near Cayey Municipio
Aibonito Municipio, PR 11 km (7 mi) SW earthquakes near Aibonito Municipio
Naranjito Municipio, PR 13 km (8 mi) NW earthquakes near Naranjito Municipio

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.6 Puerto Rico region
  2. 3.0 5 km SSE of Salinas, Puerto Rico
  3. 3.0 4 km SE of Salinas, Puerto Rico
  4. 2.1 4 km S of Salinas, Puerto Rico
  5. 2.6 4 km SSE of Salinas, Puerto Rico
  6. 2.7 3 km S of Salinas, Puerto Rico
  7. 3.0 5 km SSE of Salinas, Puerto Rico
  8. 2.7 3 km SSE of Salinas, Puerto Rico
  9. 2.6 4 km SSE of Salinas, Puerto Rico
  10. 2.4 6 km S of Salinas, Puerto Rico
  11. 2.7 Puerto Rico region
  12. 2.5 4 km SSE of Salinas, Puerto Rico
  13. 2.5 Puerto Rico region
  14. 2.8 1 km SSW of Cidra, Puerto Rico
  15. 2.4 6 km SSE of Salinas, 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.