QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 4.5mb

109 km N of Culebra, Puerto Rico

· 42 km deep · released about 85 tons of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Fajardo Municipio 106 kmCulebra Municipio 108 kmLuquillo Municipio 113 kmRío Grande Municipio 116 kmLoíza Municipio 118 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 4.5 (mb)
Depth
42 km below the surface
Felt
3 reports · strongest reported intensity III
Nearest
Fajardo Municipio, 106 km SSW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1511 days ago

This was a light earthquake. It is usually felt clearly nearby and can rattle windows and dishes, but damage is uncommon. 3 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 85 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 5.5 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 2,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 89× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 63× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 4.5 about 85 tons of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 180× 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 19.2934, -65.2640. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Fajardo Municipio, PR 106 km (66 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Fajardo Municipio
Culebra Municipio, PR 108 km (67 mi) N of here earthquakes near Culebra Municipio
Luquillo Municipio, PR 113 km (70 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Luquillo Municipio
Río Grande Municipio, PR 116 km (72 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Río Grande Municipio
Loíza Municipio, PR 118 km (73 mi) NE of here earthquakes near Loíza Municipio
Ceiba Municipio, PR 122 km (76 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Ceiba Municipio

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.9 135 km NNE of Vieques, Puerto Rico
  2. 3.4 103 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  3. 3.4 116 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  4. 3.4 74 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  5. 3.3 110 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  6. 3.3 71 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  7. 2.7 81 km N of Culebra, Puerto Rico
  8. 2.6 76 km NNE of Luquillo, Puerto Rico
  9. 3.1 68 km NNE of Luquillo, Puerto Rico
  10. 2.8 82 km NNE of Luquillo, Puerto Rico
  11. 3.0 79 km N of Culebra, Puerto Rico
  12. 3.3 79 km N of Culebra, Puerto Rico
  13. 3.1 72 km N of Culebra, Puerto Rico
  14. 2.8 61 km NNW of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  15. 3.1 66 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.

For this area

The largest earthquake within 50 km in our catalogue was M 4.5 on 2018-02-09.

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

On USGS

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