QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.2md

35 km SE of Esperanza, Puerto Rico

· 15 km deep · released about 1.1 tons of TNT

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10 km30 km60 km120 km N Vieques Municipio 35 kmCulebra Municipio 49 kmCeiba Municipio 59 kmNaguabo Municipio 66 kmHumacao Municipio 67 kmFajardo Municipio 68 kmYabucoa Municipio 71 kmMaunabo Municipio 74 kmLuquillo Municipio 75 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
Magnitude
M 3.2 (md)
Depth
15 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Vieques Municipio, 35 km NW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 71 days ago

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

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 1.1 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.2 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 160,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 7,200× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 5,100× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 3.2 about 1.1 tons of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 2.2× 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.

Where

Epicentre 17.8950, -65.2077. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Vieques Municipio, PR 35 km (22 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Vieques Municipio
Culebra Municipio, PR 49 km (31 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Culebra Municipio
Ceiba Municipio, PR 59 km (37 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Ceiba Municipio
Naguabo Municipio, PR 66 km (41 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Naguabo Municipio
Humacao Municipio, PR 67 km (41 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Humacao Municipio
Fajardo Municipio, PR 68 km (42 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Fajardo Municipio

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 3.2 40 km SE of Esperanza, Puerto Rico
  2. 3.1 16 km SE of Esperanza, Puerto Rico
  3. 3.0 28 km SSW of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  4. 3.1 14 km SSE of Esperanza, Puerto Rico
  5. 2.9 17 km S of Esperanza, Puerto Rico
  6. 2.9 16 km SSE of Esperanza, Puerto Rico
  7. 2.5 20 km SSW of Cruz Bay, U.S. Virgin Islands
  8. 2.9 24 km SSW of Cruz Bay, U.S. Virgin Islands
  9. 3.0 6 km SE of Isabel Segunda, Puerto Rico
  10. 2.6 14 km SE of Esperanza, Puerto Rico
  11. 3.6 33 km NNW of Saint Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands
  12. 2.4 7 km WNW of Esperanza, Puerto Rico
  13. 2.7 28 km SSW of Esperanza, Puerto Rico
  14. 3.0 14 km SE of Isabel Segunda, Puerto Rico
  15. 2.6 15 km WSW of Esperanza, 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.

For this area

The largest earthquake within 50 km in our catalogue was M 4.8 on 2021-10-08 — it released about 230 times the energy of this one.

From the QuakeIndex catalogue, built from the USGS FDSN event service.

On USGS

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