QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.4md

126 km NNE of Vieques, Puerto Rico

Yes. A magnitude 3.4 earthquake was recorded 126 km NNE of Vieques, Puerto Rico, at 8:07 pm AST on 21 February 2026 (00:07 UTC), 47 km deep.

· 47 km deep · released about 1.7 tons of TNT

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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 3.4 (md)
Depth
47 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Loíza Municipio, 129 km SSW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 263 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, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 31 km (19 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 1.7 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 99,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 4,400× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 3,100× 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 3.6× 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 4.9 on 2018-11-14 — about 200 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 3 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km:

  1. 5.1 122 km NNE of Vieques, Puerto Rico · 16 km SE of this epicentre
  2. 5.1 92 km N of Suárez, Puerto Rico · 41 km SW of this epicentre
  3. 5.0 109 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands · 48 km ESE 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 19.5043, -65.4330. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Loíza Municipio, PR 129 km (80 mi) SSW earthquakes near Loíza Municipio
Cataño Municipio, PR 140 km (87 mi) SSW earthquakes near Cataño Municipio
Toa Baja Municipio, PR 141 km (88 mi) SW earthquakes near Toa Baja Municipio
Dorado Municipio, PR 144 km (89 mi) SW earthquakes near Dorado Municipio
Vega Alta Municipio, PR 152 km (95 mi) SW earthquakes near Vega Alta Municipio
Vega Baja Municipio, PR 155 km (96 mi) SW earthquakes near Vega Baja Municipio

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 3.4 103 km NNW of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  2. 4.0 94 km N of Culebra, Puerto Rico
  3. 3.4 121 km NNE of San Juan, Puerto Rico
  4. 3.5 102 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  5. 2.9 94 km NNW of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  6. 3.4 91 km NNW of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  7. 3.1 85 km N of Culebra, Puerto Rico
  8. 4.2 88 km N of Culebra, Puerto Rico
  9. 2.9 93 km N of Culebra, Puerto Rico
  10. 3.2 87 km N of Culebra, Puerto Rico
  11. 3.4 108 km NNE of San Juan, Puerto Rico
  12. 3.4 93 km N of Culebra, Puerto Rico
  13. 3.5 100 km N of Culebra, Puerto Rico
  14. 3.3 101 km N of Culebra, Puerto Rico
  15. 3.4 107 km N of Culebra, 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.