QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.6md

Earthquake near Bajandas, PR

No earthquake was likely felt in Bajandas in the 24 hours to 10:46 am AST (14:46 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 2.6 earthquake was recorded 5 km (3 mi) south of Bajandas, PR, at 1:55 am AST on 21 March 2024 (05:55 UTC), 11 km deep.

USGS: 4 km S of Bajandas, Puerto Rico

44 km (27 mi) SE of San Juan, PR · 30 km (19 mi) ESE of Caguas, PR

1:55 am AST, Mar 21, 2024 · · 11 km deep · released about 240 lb of TNT

Every earthquake near Bajandas Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Humacao Municipio 2 kmYabucoa Municipio 10 kmNaguabo Municipio 12 kmLas Piedras Municipio 12 kmMaunabo Municipio 18 kmJuncos Municipio 18 kmSan Lorenzo Municipio 21 kmCeiba Municipio 23 kmPatillas Municipio 25 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
1:55 am AST on 21 March 2024 ()
Where
5 km (3 mi) south of Bajandas, PR · earthquakes near Bajandas
Magnitude
M 2.6 (md)
Depth
11 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Humacao Municipio, 2 km NNW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 965 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 21 km (13 mi) from the epicentre. In Bajandas, 5 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.

Likely felt in: Humacao 6 km, intensity II · Emajagua 17 km, intensity II · Aguas Claras 20 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 240 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.6 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 63,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 45,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 4× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.6 about 240 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 2,000 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 · 41 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 18.1152, -65.7813. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Humacao Municipio, PR 2 km (1 mi) NNW earthquakes near Humacao Municipio
Yabucoa Municipio, PR 10 km (6 mi) SW earthquakes near Yabucoa Municipio
Naguabo Municipio, PR 12 km (7 mi) NNE earthquakes near Naguabo Municipio
Las Piedras Municipio, PR 12 km (8 mi) NW earthquakes near Las Piedras Municipio
Maunabo Municipio, PR 18 km (11 mi) SW earthquakes near Maunabo Municipio
Juncos Municipio, PR 18 km (11 mi) NW earthquakes near Juncos Municipio

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.2 6 km SSE of Bajandas, Puerto Rico
  2. 3.3 5 km SSE of Bajandas, Puerto Rico
  3. 3.2 0 km ENE of Cidra, Puerto Rico
  4. 3.0 14 km SE of Esperanza, Puerto Rico
  5. 3.0 6 km SSE of Bajandas, Puerto Rico
  6. 3.4 1 km S of Canovanas, Puerto Rico
  7. 3.1 6 km NNW of Yaurel, Puerto Rico
  8. 2.7 11 km SE of Emajagua, Puerto Rico
  9. 3.0 11 km SE of Esperanza, Puerto Rico
  10. 2.5 3 km SW of G. L. Garcia, Puerto Rico
  11. 2.9 26 km SSE of Arroyo, Puerto Rico
  12. 2.8 18 km SSE of Lamboglia, Puerto Rico
  13. 2.8 10 km SW of Esperanza, Puerto Rico
  14. 2.2 0 km SSE of Isabel Segunda, Puerto Rico
  15. 2.5 5 km SE of El Negro, 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.