54 km N of Isabela, Puerto Rico

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 43 km (27 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 1,700 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 6.7 200,000× the energy of this one
2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 9,100× the energy of this one
3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 6,500× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 3.2 about 1,700 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.

For this area

The largest earthquake within 50 km since 2016 was M 6.0 on 2019-09-24 — about 18,000 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 19 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 7.7 45 km N of San Antonio, Puerto Rico · 20 km WSW of this epicentre Jul 29, 1943
2. 7.1 24 km NNW of San Antonio, Puerto Rico · 41 km SW of this epicentre Oct 11, 1918
3. 6.4 61 km N of Hatillo, Puerto Rico · 15 km ENE of this epicentre Jan 13, 2014
4. 6.1 18 km NNW of San Antonio, Puerto Rico · 46 km SSW of this epicentre Nov 12, 1918
5. 6.0 81 km N of Isabela, Puerto Rico · 27 km N of this epicentre Jul 30, 1943

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 18.9902, -66.9450. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 3.2 76 km N of Tierras Nuevas Poniente, Puerto Rico 20:38 UTC
2. 3.0 75 km N of Tierras Nuevas Poniente, Puerto Rico 20:26 UTC
3. 3.0 79 km NNE of Arecibo, Puerto Rico 10:01 UTC
4. 3.2 76 km N of Tierras Nuevas Poniente, Puerto Rico 06:49 UTC
5. 3.4 78 km N of Tierras Nuevas Poniente, Puerto Rico 06:21 UTC
6. 3.4 45 km N of Isabela, Puerto Rico 22:50 UTC
7. 3.1 71 km N of Carrizales, Puerto Rico 08:31 UTC
8. 3.1 63 km N of Tierras Nuevas Poniente, Puerto Rico 07:32 UTC
9. 3.2 71 km N of Isabela, Puerto Rico 02:05 UTC
10. 3.0 12 km N of Hatillo, Puerto Rico 04:07 UTC
11. 2.6 25 km NNE of Isabela, Puerto Rico 16:09 UTC
12. 3.2 62 km N of Hatillo, Puerto Rico 03:16 UTC
13. 3.0 79 km N of Arecibo, Puerto Rico 17:59 UTC
14. 3.0 27 km NW of San Antonio, Puerto Rico 17:27 UTC
15. 3.2 64 km N of Carrizales, Puerto Rico 10:50 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 21:49 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.