QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.8md

Earthquake near Rosa Sanchez, PR

No earthquake was likely felt in Rosa Sanchez in the 24 hours to 5:23 pm AST (21:23 UTC). The last one was M 2.2, 14 km (9 mi) SE, at 2:59 pm AST on 4 November 2026, estimated intensity II (weak) in town. Every earthquake near Rosa Sanchez

This page: a magnitude 1.8 earthquake was recorded 5 km (3 mi) west of Rosa Sanchez, PR, at 7:47 am AST on 8 August 2025 (11:47 UTC), 9.3 km deep.

USGS: 5 km W of Rosa Sanchez, Puerto Rico

39 km (24 mi) SSE of San Juan, PR · 20 km (13 mi) SSE of Caguas, PR

7:47 am AST, Aug 8, 2025 · · 9.3 km deep · released about 14 lb of TNT

Every earthquake near Rosa Sanchez Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Patillas Municipio 8 kmSan Lorenzo Municipio 9 kmMaunabo Municipio 10 kmYabucoa Municipio 11 kmArroyo Municipio 14 kmLas Piedras Municipio 16 kmJuncos Municipio 18 kmCaguas Municipio 19 kmHumacao Municipio 20 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
7:47 am AST on 8 August 2025 ()
Where
5 km (3 mi) west of Rosa Sanchez, PR · earthquakes near Rosa Sanchez
Magnitude
M 1.8 (md)
Depth
9.3 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Patillas Municipio, 8 km SSW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 460 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 10 km (6 mi) from the epicentre. In Rosa Sanchez, 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.

Earthquakes near other towns within 30 km: Playita, Martorell, Palo Seco, Yabucoa, Patillas, Maunabo.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 14 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.8 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,100,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 760,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 68× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.8 about 14 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 4.6 on 2016-12-05 — about 17,000 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists one earthquake of M5 or more within 50 km:

  1. 5.1 3 km W of Aguas Buenas, Puerto Rico · 28 km NW of this epicentre

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 18.0667, -65.9607. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Patillas Municipio, PR 8 km (5 mi) SSW earthquakes near Patillas Municipio
San Lorenzo Municipio, PR 9 km (6 mi) N earthquakes near San Lorenzo Municipio
Maunabo Municipio, PR 10 km (6 mi) SE earthquakes near Maunabo Municipio
Yabucoa Municipio, PR 11 km (7 mi) E earthquakes near Yabucoa Municipio
Arroyo Municipio, PR 14 km (8 mi) SW earthquakes near Arroyo Municipio
Las Piedras Municipio, PR 16 km (10 mi) NE earthquakes near Las Piedras Municipio

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 3.3 5 km NNE of Aguas Buenas, Puerto Rico
  2. 1.9 3 km E of G. L. Garcia, Puerto Rico
  3. 2.0 9 km S of Emajagua, Puerto Rico
  4. 2.7 4 km ESE of Jagual, Puerto Rico
  5. 2.5 2 km SSW of Cayey, Puerto Rico
  6. 2.9 6 km NNW of Loíza, Puerto Rico
  7. 2.6 5 km NNW of Coamo, Puerto Rico
  8. 1.8 2 km NNW of La Plena, Puerto Rico
  9. 2.8 4 km SSE of Cayey, Puerto Rico
  10. 2.3 6 km ENE of Naranjito, Puerto Rico
  11. 1.8 1 km WSW of G. L. Garcia, Puerto Rico
  12. 3.2 9 km WSW of Esperanza, Puerto Rico
  13. 2.7 1 km E of Palmas, Puerto Rico
  14. 3.2 2 km SW of G. L. Garcia, Puerto Rico
  15. 2.9 4 km NW of Coamo, 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.

On USGS

QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.