Earthquake near Tierras Nuevas Poniente, 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 54 km (34 mi) from the epicentre. In Tierras Nuevas Poniente, 25 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: Barceloneta 26 km, intensity II · Vega Baja 29 km, intensity II · Arecibo 33 km, intensity II · San Antonio 33 km, intensity II · Dorado 35 km, intensity II · Ciales 39 km, intensity II · Hatillo 41 km, intensity II · Levittown 42 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 1.7 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.4 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 100,000× the energy of this one
2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 4,600× the energy of this one
3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 3,200× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 3.4 about 1.7 tons of TNT
5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 3.5× 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 4.8 on 2017-08-18 — about 140 times the energy of this one.

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

1. 5.8 12 km N of Garrochales, Puerto Rico · 15 km SSW of this epicentre Oct 12, 1918
2. 5.5 64 km N of Tierras Nuevas Poniente, Puerto Rico · 40 km N of this epicentre Jul 14, 1964
3. 5.1 66 km N of Brenas, Puerto Rico · 45 km NNE of this epicentre Mar 12, 2009
4. 5.0 3 km N of Brenas, Puerto Rico · 26 km SE of this epicentre Jun 17, 1975

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 18.6830, -66.4975. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 3.5 9 km NNW of San Juan, Puerto Rico 22:09 UTC
2. 2.6 3 km WNW of Orocovis, Puerto Rico 05:05 UTC
3. 2.8 41 km N of Hatillo, Puerto Rico 08:12 UTC
4. 3.5 54 km N of Brenas, Puerto Rico 20:21 UTC
5. 2.9 71 km N of Arecibo, Puerto Rico 11:37 UTC
6. 4.0 65 km N of Arecibo, Puerto Rico 05:56 UTC
7. 3.2 2 km ESE of Sabana Hoyos, Puerto Rico 13:27 UTC
8. 2.9 2 km NNW of Carrizales, Puerto Rico 06:51 UTC
9. 3.1 71 km N of Tierras Nuevas Poniente, Puerto Rico 23:30 UTC
10. 2.7 22 km NNE of Carrizales, Puerto Rico 15:33 UTC
11. 3.0 26 km N of Garrochales, Puerto Rico 23:08 UTC
12. 3.2 8 km NE of Dorado, Puerto Rico 22:08 UTC
13. 2.2 4 km WNW of Orocovis, Puerto Rico 15:08 UTC
14. 2.6 4 km NW of Orocovis, Puerto Rico 01:06 UTC
15. 3.1 69 km N of Brenas, Puerto Rico 02:11 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 20:35 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.