59 km N of Tierras Nuevas Poniente, Puerto Rico

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 28 km (17 mi) from the epicentre. 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.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 1,300 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.1 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 270,000× the energy of this one
2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 12,000× the energy of this one
3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 8,500× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 3.1 about 1,300 lb of TNT
5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 1.3× 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 380 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 11 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 6.4 61 km N of Hatillo, Puerto Rico · 30 km W of this epicentre Jan 13, 2014
2. 6.0 81 km N of Isabela, Puerto Rico · 49 km WNW of this epicentre Jul 30, 1943
3. 5.9 78 km N of Arecibo, Puerto Rico · 23 km NNW of this epicentre Oct 14, 1918
4. 5.8 12 km N of Garrochales, Puerto Rico · 49 km S of this epicentre Oct 12, 1918
5. 5.7 78 km N of Tierras Nuevas Poniente, Puerto Rico · 19 km N of this epicentre Sep 10, 1943

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 18.9992, -66.5282. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 3.0 15 km NNE of Carrizales, Puerto Rico 22:24 UTC
2. 3.0 17 km NNE of Arecibo, Puerto Rico 14:08 UTC
3. 3.0 76 km N of Brenas, Puerto Rico 23:26 UTC
4. 2.5 47 km N of Hatillo, Puerto Rico 12:44 UTC
5. 3.0 56 km N of Arecibo, Puerto Rico 23:59 UTC
6. 3.1 57 km N of Brenas, Puerto Rico 21:14 UTC
7. 3.1 90 km N of Arecibo, Puerto Rico 02:33 UTC
8. 3.2 85 km N of Tierras Nuevas Poniente, Puerto Rico 01:03 UTC
9. 3.1 92 km N of Arecibo, Puerto Rico 21:38 UTC
10. 3.4 74 km N of Arecibo, Puerto Rico 19:58 UTC
11. 3.0 86 km N of Arecibo, Puerto Rico 16:16 UTC
12. 2.8 34 km N of Carrizales, Puerto Rico 22:12 UTC
13. 2.7 16 km N of Brenas, Puerto Rico 11:07 UTC
14. 3.4 92 km N of Hatillo, Puerto Rico 07:17 UTC
15. 3.1 56 km N of Isabela, Puerto Rico 22:45 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 18:41 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.