Earthquake near Pole Ojea, PR

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 46 km (29 mi) from the epicentre. In Pole Ojea, 7 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: Pole Ojea 7 km, intensity III · Puerto Real 14 km, intensity III · San Germán 25 km, intensity II · Mayagüez 29 km, intensity II · Rincón 42 km, intensity II · Yauco 43 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 1,800 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.2 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 180,000× the energy of this one
2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 8,200× the energy of this one
3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 5,800× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 3.2 about 1,800 lb of TNT
5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 1.9× 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 6.4 on 2020-01-07 — about 65,000 times the energy of this one.

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

1. 5.2 19 km SW of Stella, Puerto Rico · 28 km NNW of this epicentre Dec 17, 2011
2. 5.1 21 km SW of Stella, Puerto Rico · 27 km NNW of this epicentre Dec 17, 2011

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 17.9625, -67.2488. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 2.3 2 km SSW of Liborio Negron Torres, Puerto Rico 18:02 UTC
2. 2.1 1 km SSE of Yauco, Puerto Rico 16:03 UTC
3. 2.1 2 km WSW of Sabana Grande, Puerto Rico 08:35 UTC
4. 3.4 3 km WSW of Sabana Grande, Puerto Rico 21:15 UTC
5. 2.6 7 km SSE of Maria Antonia, Puerto Rico 20:10 UTC
6. 2.8 7 km ESE of La Parguera, Puerto Rico 09:20 UTC
7. 2.2 3 km ESE of Indios, Puerto Rico 06:05 UTC
8. 3.1 6 km W of Maricao, Puerto Rico 03:06 UTC
9. 2.6 10 km SSE of Maria Antonia, Puerto Rico 13:38 UTC
10. 3.5 24 km W of Pole Ojea, Puerto Rico 11:48 UTC
11. 2.4 3 km WSW of La Parguera, Puerto Rico 03:44 UTC
12. 1.7 5 km SW of La Parguera, Puerto Rico 19:35 UTC
13. 2.0 3 km WSW of La Parguera, Puerto Rico 19:35 UTC
14. 2.5 6 km SSW of Indios, Puerto Rico 04:20 UTC
15. 2.3 6 km SSW of Indios, Puerto Rico 04:15 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 16:58 UTC. QuakeIndex does not forecast aftershocks. When USGS issues an operational aftershock forecast it appears on the USGS event page.

On USGS

• The official USGS event page — the source of record for every value above
• Did you feel it? Report it to USGS — reports go to USGS, not to us
• ShakeMap for this event, when USGS has produced one

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