November 12, 1918 Earthquake: Puerto Rico, US Territories
An earthquake struck Puerto Rico, US Territories on November 12, 1918 at 21:45:00 UTC.
Map
Where it struck, with the other significant earthquakes within 200 km. Circles are sized and colored by magnitude; select one for its page.
The earthquake
- Date
- November 12, 1918
- Time
- 21:45:00 UTC
- Place
- Puerto Rico, US Territories
- Intensity
- VII, very strong shaking, on the Modified Mercalli scale
- Tsunami
- None recorded
- Epicenter
- 18.200° N, 68.200° W
- Country
- US Territories
- Region
- Caribbean
- USGS record
- The USGS’s page for this earthquake
The toll
- Damage
- Moderate (about $1 to $5 million)
Where the literature gives no number, NCEI records a description on a scale of 1 to 4, printed here in its words. Damage is in millions of US dollars of the year of the event, not adjusted for inflation.
Sources NCEI cites
The publications NCEI lists for this record. The numbers match the “reference #” notes in its account above.
- #1189 Campbell, J.B. (1972). Earthquake History of Puerto Rico, Appendix I, Part A, Aguirre Nuclear Power Plant PSAR, Weston Geophysical Research, Inc., Weston, MA, 117 p.
Other significant earthquakes nearby
Within 200 km, the deadliest first.
- August 4, 1946, Northeastern Coast, Dominican Republic
- October 11, 1918, Mona Passage, Puerto Rico, US Territories
- August 8, 1946, Northeastern Coast, Dominican Republic
- June 24, 1984, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
- May 9, 1673, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
- January 7, 2020, Ponce,san Juan, Puerto Rico, US Territories
- April 24, 1916, Santo Dominigo, Dominican Republic
- October 25, 1918, Puerto Rico, US Territories
- November 1, 1989, Mona Passage, Puerto Rico, US Territories
- May 16, 2010, Lares, Vega Baja, Puerto Rico, US Territories
- 1502, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
- July 29, 1943, San Juan, Puerto Rico, US Territories
- November 3, 1988, Catano, Mona Passage, Puerto Rico, US Territories
- April 16, 1844, San Juan, St Thomas, Puerto Rico, US Territories
- May 2, 2020, Ponce, Puerto Rico, US Territories
More
Significant earthquakes of 1918The 1900sEvery quake the USGS located in 1918Recent earthquakes near hereThis day in weather history
Sources
Significant earthquakes from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information, Global Historical Hazard Database, cited as NCEI/WDS, doi:10.7289/V5PN93H7. Public domain. Read 2026-10-01. NCEI earthquake 3127. The written accounts and the magnitude estimates are from the USGS earthquake catalog, event iscgem913341, matched to this record by time, place and magnitude.