Earthquake near San Germán, PR

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 22 km (14 mi) from the epicentre. In San Germán, 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: San Germán 5 km, intensity II · Yauco 17 km, intensity II · Puerto Real 19 km, intensity II · Pole Ojea 20 km, intensity II · Mayagüez 21 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 550 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.8 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 28,000× the energy of this one
2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 19,000× the energy of this one
3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 1.7× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 2.8 about 550 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 6.4 on 2020-01-07 — about 220,000 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 4 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km:

1. 6.3 6 km WNW of Aguadilla, Puerto Rico · 48 km NNW of this epicentre Oct 25, 1918
2. 5.8 4 km E of Moca, Puerto Rico · 39 km N of this epicentre May 16, 2010
3. 5.2 19 km SW of Stella, Puerto Rico · 41 km WNW of this epicentre Dec 17, 2011
4. 5.1 21 km SW of Stella, Puerto Rico · 40 km WNW of this epicentre Dec 17, 2011

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 18.0530, -67.0100. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 2.7 1 km WSW of Tallaboa, Puerto Rico 15:32 UTC
2. 2.3 1 km S of Magas Arriba, Puerto Rico 04:02 UTC
3. 2.3 4 km ESE of La Parguera, Puerto Rico 03:01 UTC
4. 2.5 2 km NW of Guayanilla, Puerto Rico 02:43 UTC
5. 2.4 3 km E of Maria Antonia, Puerto Rico 00:46 UTC
6. 2.9 6 km SSE of Indios, Puerto Rico 21:44 UTC
7. 2.1 1 km NW of Indios, Puerto Rico 11:14 UTC
8. 1.9 8 km SSW of Tallaboa, Puerto Rico 23:10 UTC
9. 2.3 7 km S of Guánica, Puerto Rico 19:50 UTC
10. 2.5 3 km SSE of Indios, Puerto Rico 14:45 UTC
11. 2.3 3 km SE of Indios, Puerto Rico 11:52 UTC
12. 2.8 2 km E of Magas Arriba, Puerto Rico 11:39 UTC
13. 2.6 7 km SSE of Maria Antonia, Puerto Rico 07:26 UTC
14. 3.0 7 km SE of Maria Antonia, Puerto Rico 06:47 UTC
15. 2.3 4 km SE of Maria Antonia, Puerto Rico 04:32 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 16:52 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.