QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.1md

8 km SSW of La Playa, Puerto Rico

· 110 km deep · released about 1,600 lb of TNT

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10 km30 km60 km120 km N Añasco Municipio 12 kmRincón Municipio 13 kmHormigueros Municipio 15 kmAguada Municipio 18 kmMoca Municipio 23 kmSan Germán Municipio 23 kmCabo Rojo Municipio 25 kmLas Marías Municipio 26 kmSan Sebastián Municipio 29 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 3.1 (md)
Depth
110 km below the surface
Felt
1 report · strongest reported intensity II
Nearest
Añasco Municipio, 12 km NE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 909 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 1 person has reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 1,600 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 6.7 210,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 9,400× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 6,700× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 3.1 about 1,600 lb of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 1.7× 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.

Where

Epicentre 18.2213, -67.2222. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Añasco Municipio, PR 12 km (7 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Añasco Municipio
Rincón Municipio, PR 13 km (8 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Rincón Municipio
Hormigueros Municipio, PR 15 km (9 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Hormigueros Municipio
Aguada Municipio, PR 18 km (11 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Aguada Municipio
Moca Municipio, PR 23 km (14 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Moca Municipio
San Germán Municipio, PR 23 km (14 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near San Germán Municipio

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 3.2 2 km E of La Parguera, Puerto Rico
  2. 1.9 5 km ENE of La Parguera, Puerto Rico
  3. 2.0 6 km SW of Guánica, Puerto Rico
  4. 2.5 7 km WSW of Fuig, Puerto Rico
  5. 2.9 6 km W of Mayagüez, Puerto Rico
  6. 2.3 2 km WSW of Indios, Puerto Rico
  7. 2.0 1 km SW of Palmarejo, Puerto Rico
  8. 2.5 3 km S of Maria Antonia, Puerto Rico
  9. 2.6 2 km SE of Las Marías, Puerto Rico
  10. 2.5 5 km NE of Mayagüez, Puerto Rico
  11. 2.4 8 km SW of La Parguera, Puerto Rico
  12. 2.3 3 km WSW of Indios, Puerto Rico
  13. 2.3 3 km SSE of Maria Antonia, Puerto Rico
  14. 2.6 5 km SSW of Guánica, Puerto Rico
  15. 2.2 7 km SSE of Guánica, 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.

For this area

The largest earthquake within 50 km in our catalogue was M 5.9 on 2020-01-11 — it released about 13,000 times the energy of this one.

From the QuakeIndex catalogue, built from the USGS FDSN event service.

On USGS

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