QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.8md

31 km N of Brenas, Puerto Rico

· 89 km deep · released about 480 lb of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N Vega Baja Municipio 32 kmDorado Municipio 33 kmVega Alta Municipio 35 kmManatí Municipio 35 kmBarceloneta Municipio 36 kmToa Baja Municipio 38 kmCataño Municipio 42 kmToa Alta Municipio 45 kmFlorida Municipio 46 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 2.8 (md)
Depth
89 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Vega Baja Municipio, 32 km S
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 629 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 480 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 32,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 22,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 2× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.8 about 480 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 18.7455, -66.3848. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Vega Baja Municipio, PR 32 km (20 mi) N of here earthquakes near Vega Baja Municipio
Dorado Municipio, PR 33 km (20 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Dorado Municipio
Vega Alta Municipio, PR 35 km (22 mi) N of here earthquakes near Vega Alta Municipio
Manatí Municipio, PR 35 km (22 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Manatí Municipio
Barceloneta Municipio, PR 36 km (22 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Barceloneta Municipio
Toa Baja Municipio, PR 38 km (24 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

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

  1. 3.3 67 km N of San Juan, Puerto Rico
  2. 3.1 48 km N of Tierras Nuevas Poniente, Puerto Rico
  3. 3.0 12 km NNW of San Juan, Puerto Rico
  4. 2.8 53 km NNW of San Juan, Puerto Rico
  5. 2.9 11 km NNE of Carrizales, Puerto Rico
  6. 3.0 3 km NW of H. Rivera Colon, Puerto Rico
  7. 2.7 22 km N of Arecibo, Puerto Rico
  8. 2.8 38 km N of San Juan, Puerto Rico
  9. 2.9 9 km NNW of Brenas, Puerto Rico
  10. 3.2 74 km N of Tierras Nuevas Poniente, Puerto Rico
  11. 2.8 19 km N of Dorado, Puerto Rico
  12. 3.1 69 km N of Tierras Nuevas Poniente, Puerto Rico
  13. 2.9 34 km N of San Juan, Puerto Rico
  14. 3.2 77 km N of Tierras Nuevas Poniente, Puerto Rico
  15. 2.9 72 km N of Brenas, 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 1,000 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.