QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 4.3mb

2 km SW of Tallaboa Alta, Puerto Rico

· 10 km deep · released about 43 tons of TNT

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10 km30 km60 km120 km N Peñuelas Municipio 2 kmGuayanilla Municipio 9 kmPonce Municipio 12 kmYauco Municipio 16 kmAdjuntas Municipio 17 kmJayuya Municipio 24 kmGuánica Municipio 24 kmJuana Díaz Municipio 24 kmSabana Grande Municipio 25 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 4.3 (mb)
Depth
10 km below the surface
Felt
1 report · strongest reported intensity V
Measured shaking
intensity III (ShakeMap)
USGS impact alert
green
Nearest
Peñuelas Municipio, 2 km WSW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2381 days ago

This was a light earthquake. It is usually felt clearly nearby and can rattle windows and dishes, but damage is uncommon. 1 person has reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 43 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 5.3 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 4,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 180× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 130× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 4.3 about 43 tons of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 89× 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 18.0348, -66.7146. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Peñuelas Municipio, PR 2 km (1 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Peñuelas Municipio
Guayanilla Municipio, PR 9 km (6 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Guayanilla Municipio
Ponce Municipio, PR 12 km (7 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Ponce Municipio
Yauco Municipio, PR 16 km (10 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Yauco Municipio
Adjuntas Municipio, PR 17 km (11 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Adjuntas Municipio
Jayuya Municipio, PR 24 km (15 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Jayuya Municipio

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.8 7 km SSE of Guánica, Puerto Rico
  2. 2.2 6 km SW of Tallaboa, Puerto Rico
  3. 2.6 20 km SSW of Tallaboa, Puerto Rico
  4. 1.8 3 km WSW of Tallaboa, Puerto Rico
  5. 2.8 3 km NNW of Guayanilla, Puerto Rico
  6. 2.9 0 km NE of Guayanilla, Puerto Rico
  7. 1.9 2 km ESE of Magas Arriba, Puerto Rico
  8. 3.5 1 km W of Tallaboa, Puerto Rico
  9. 3.7 2 km W of Tallaboa, Puerto Rico
  10. 2.8 3 km SSE of Guánica, Puerto Rico
  11. 2.3 0 km NE of Guayanilla, Puerto Rico
  12. 1.6 3 km SSW of Magas Arriba, Puerto Rico
  13. 1.6 2 km SSW of Magas Arriba, Puerto Rico
  14. 2.8 1 km WSW of Peñuelas, Puerto Rico
  15. 2.1 5 km SSW of Guánica, 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 6.4 on 2020-01-07 — it released about 1,400 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.