63 km E of Christiansted, U.S. Virgin Islands

Yes. A magnitude 3.1 earthquake was recorded 63 km E of Christiansted, U.S. Virgin Islands, at 3:28 pm AST on 21 May 2026 (19:28 UTC), 41 km deep.

2026-05-21 19:28 UTC · 41 km deep · released about 1,300 lb 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: 2026-05-21 19:28 UTC
Magnitude: M 3.1 (md)
Depth: 41 km below the surface
Felt: no reports yet
Status: Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS 174 days ago · we first saw it 174 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 9 km (6 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.

Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 250,000× the energy of this one
Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 11,000× the energy of this one
Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 7,900× the energy of this one
This earthquake M 3.1 about 1,300 lb of TNT
Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 1.4× 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 4.1 on 2017-10-03 — about 32 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record since 1900 lists no earthquake of M5 or more within 50 km.

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

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Aftershocks so far

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

3.4 85 km ENE of Christiansted, U.S. Virgin Islands 10:55 UTC
3.0 48 km ENE of Christiansted, U.S. Virgin Islands 08:57 UTC
2.7 60 km ENE of Christiansted, U.S. Virgin Islands 15:00 UTC
4.0 78 km ENE of Christiansted, U.S. Virgin Islands 03:01 UTC
3.0 60 km NE of Christiansted, U.S. Virgin Islands 22:24 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 21:09 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.