QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.9md

36 km N of Brenas, Puerto Rico

· 38 km deep · released about 610 lb of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N Vega Baja Municipio 38 kmDorado Municipio 38 kmVega Alta Municipio 40 kmBarceloneta Municipio 40 kmManatí Municipio 40 kmToa Baja Municipio 43 kmCataño Municipio 46 kmToa Alta Municipio 50 kmArecibo Municipio 50 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 2.9 (md)
Depth
38 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Vega Baja Municipio, 38 km S
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 736 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 610 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 25,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 18,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 1.6× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.9 about 610 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.

Where

Epicentre 18.7925, -66.3863. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Vega Baja Municipio, PR 38 km (23 mi) N of here earthquakes near Vega Baja Municipio
Dorado Municipio, PR 38 km (23 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Dorado Municipio
Vega Alta Municipio, PR 40 km (25 mi) N of here earthquakes near Vega Alta Municipio
Barceloneta Municipio, PR 40 km (25 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Barceloneta Municipio
Manatí Municipio, PR 40 km (25 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Manatí Municipio
Toa Baja Municipio, PR 43 km (26 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Toa Baja Municipio

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 3.2 40 km N of Hatillo, Puerto Rico
  2. 3.1 74 km N of Brenas, Puerto Rico
  3. 3.1 75 km N of Brenas, Puerto Rico
  4. 2.8 31 km N of Brenas, Puerto Rico
  5. 3.1 45 km N of Hatillo, Puerto Rico
  6. 3.0 36 km N of Hatillo, Puerto Rico
  7. 3.1 64 km N of Brenas, Puerto Rico
  8. 3.7 70 km N of Tierras Nuevas Poniente, Puerto Rico
  9. 3.2 83 km N of Tierras Nuevas Poniente, Puerto Rico
  10. 3.3 74 km N of Tierras Nuevas Poniente, Puerto Rico
  11. 3.2 16 km NNE of Carrizales, Puerto Rico
  12. 3.1 68 km N of San Juan, Puerto Rico
  13. 3.0 27 km NNE of Brenas, Puerto Rico
  14. 3.2 65 km N of Carrizales, Puerto Rico
  15. 3.2 34 km NNE of San Juan, 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 4.8 on 2017-08-18 — it released about 790 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.