QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.9md

14 km SE of Esperanza, Puerto Rico

· 12 km deep · released about 650 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Vieques Municipio 16 kmCulebra Municipio 38 kmCeiba Municipio 38 kmNaguabo Municipio 44 kmHumacao Municipio 45 kmFajardo Municipio 49 kmYabucoa Municipio 51 kmMaunabo Municipio 54 kmLuquillo Municipio 54 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
12 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Vieques Municipio, 16 km NNW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 711 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 650 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 23,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 16,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 1.5× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.9 about 650 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 17.9915, -65.3840. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Vieques Municipio, PR 16 km (10 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Vieques Municipio
Culebra Municipio, PR 38 km (24 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Culebra Municipio
Ceiba Municipio, PR 38 km (24 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Ceiba Municipio
Naguabo Municipio, PR 44 km (28 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Naguabo Municipio
Humacao Municipio, PR 45 km (28 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Humacao Municipio
Fajardo Municipio, PR 49 km (30 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Fajardo Municipio

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.7 24 km S of Esperanza, Puerto Rico
  2. 2.6 11 km SE of Esperanza, Puerto Rico
  3. 2.7 8 km ESE of Esperanza, Puerto Rico
  4. 2.8 4 km SE of Esperanza, Puerto Rico
  5. 2.6 24 km SSW of Esperanza, Puerto Rico
  6. 2.9 18 km ESE of El Negro, Puerto Rico
  7. 2.8 16 km ESE of El Negro, Puerto Rico
  8. 2.4 22 km SE of El Negro, Puerto Rico
  9. 2.7 18 km SE of El Negro, Puerto Rico
  10. 2.7 27 km S of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  11. 3.3 31 km SSE of Esperanza, Puerto Rico
  12. 3.1 42 km SE of Emajagua, Puerto Rico
  13. 2.8 26 km SE of El Negro, Puerto Rico
  14. 2.5 5 km SSE of Bajandas, Puerto Rico
  15. 2.1 5 km SSE of Bajandas, 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 2021-10-08 — it released about 730 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.