QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.8md

16 km NNE of Arecibo, Puerto Rico

66 km (41 mi) WNW of San Juan, PR · 19 km (12 mi) NNE of Arecibo, PR

· 14 km deep · released about 450 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Barceloneta Municipio 18 kmArecibo Municipio 19 kmHatillo Municipio 24 kmManatí Municipio 25 kmFlorida Municipio 28 kmCamuy Municipio 28 kmVega Baja Municipio 32 kmQuebradillas Municipio 33 kmCiales Municipio 37 km
Distance rings around the epicentre, with the nearest towns at their true direction. Not a shaking map — see the USGS ShakeMap for that.
When
Magnitude
M 2.8 (md)
Depth
14 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Barceloneta Municipio, 18 km SE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 55 minutes 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 450 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.8 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 34,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 24,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 2.1× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.8 about 450 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 4.4 on 2018-12-09 — about 270 times the energy of this one.

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

  1. 5.8 12 km N of Garrochales, Puerto Rico · 10 km ESE of this epicentre
  2. 5.8 4 km E of Moca, Puerto Rico · 49 km WSW of this epicentre
  3. 5.0 3 km N of Brenas, Puerto Rico · 35 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 18.6055, -66.6538. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Barceloneta Municipio, PR 18 km (11 mi) SE earthquakes near Barceloneta Municipio
Arecibo Municipio, PR 19 km (12 mi) S earthquakes near Arecibo Municipio
Hatillo Municipio, PR 24 km (15 mi) SW earthquakes near Hatillo Municipio
Manatí Municipio, PR 25 km (15 mi) SE earthquakes near Manatí Municipio
Florida Municipio, PR 28 km (17 mi) SSE earthquakes near Florida Municipio
Camuy Municipio, PR 28 km (18 mi) SW earthquakes near Camuy Municipio

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

Aftershocks so far

No further earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.

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.