QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.7md

Earthquake near Palmas, PR

No earthquake was likely felt in Palmas in the 24 hours to 10:44 am AST (14:44 UTC). The last one was M 3.3, 44 km (27 mi) WSW, at 8:40 am AST on 1 November 2026, estimated intensity II (weak) in town. Every earthquake near Palmas

This page: a magnitude 2.7 earthquake was recorded in Palmas, PR, at 12:03 am AST on 18 December 2025 (04:03 UTC), 80 km deep.

USGS: 1 km E of Palmas, Puerto Rico

47 km (29 mi) S of San Juan, PR · 27 km (17 mi) S of Caguas, PR

12:03 am AST, Dec 18, 2025 · · 80 km deep · released about 390 lb of TNT

Every earthquake near Palmas Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Patillas Municipio 3 kmArroyo Municipio 4 kmMaunabo Municipio 12 kmGuayama Municipio 14 kmYabucoa Municipio 18 kmSan Lorenzo Municipio 18 kmCayey Municipio 20 kmCaguas Municipio 25 kmCidra Municipio 26 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
12:03 am AST on 18 December 2025 ()
Where
in Palmas, PR · earthquakes near Palmas
Magnitude
M 2.7 (md)
Depth
80 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Patillas Municipio, 3 km ENE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 328 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage.

At this magnitude and depth it was probably too small to be felt, even directly above it. 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: Patillas, Lamboglia, Buena Vista, Arroyo, Yaurel, Palo Seco.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 390 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.7 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 39,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 28,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 2.5× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.7 about 390 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 620 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 · 33 km NNW 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 17.9880, -66.0080. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Patillas Municipio, PR 3 km (2 mi) ENE earthquakes near Patillas Municipio
Arroyo Municipio, PR 4 km (2 mi) WSW earthquakes near Arroyo Municipio
Maunabo Municipio, PR 12 km (7 mi) E earthquakes near Maunabo Municipio
Guayama Municipio, PR 14 km (9 mi) W earthquakes near Guayama Municipio
Yabucoa Municipio, PR 18 km (11 mi) ENE earthquakes near Yabucoa Municipio
San Lorenzo Municipio, PR 18 km (11 mi) N earthquakes near San Lorenzo Municipio

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.9 21 km SW of Esperanza, Puerto Rico
  2. 3.7 29 km SSW of Esperanza, Puerto Rico
  3. 2.7 3 km SE of Jobos, Puerto Rico
  4. 1.5 1 km NE of Vázquez, Puerto Rico
  5. 2.1 1 km SE of Aguas Buenas, Puerto Rico
  6. 1.6 2 km ESE of Jobos, Puerto Rico
  7. 2.1 2 km SE of Jobos, Puerto Rico
  8. 2.5 1 km W of Santa Clara, Puerto Rico
  9. 1.5 6 km S of Central Aguirre, Puerto Rico
  10. 2.5 4 km ESE of Pájaros, Puerto Rico
  11. 2.6 2 km WSW of G. L. Garcia, Puerto Rico
  12. 2.0 2 km SSW of Vázquez, Puerto Rico
  13. 2.0 11 km SSE of Punta Santiago, Puerto Rico
  14. 2.0 0 km WSW of Aguas Buenas, Puerto Rico
  15. 1.9 0 km SW of G. L. Garcia, 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.