On Tuesday Afternoon an M4.6 Earthquake struck in the Caribbean Sea near Punta Cana (Dominican Republic).

Written by Earthquakelist.org on April 29th, 2025. Last updated May 20th, 2025.

A Magnitude 4.6 earthquake struck in the Caribbean Sea 34 kilometer from Punta Cana, Dominican Republic around noon of Tuesday April 29th, 2025. Another country near the epicenter is Puerto Rico.

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Earthquake Summary

This earthquake hit under water in the Caribbean Sea, right off the coast of Dominican Republic (12 mi offshore), 34 kilometer south-southeast of Punta Cana in La Altagracia. The center of this earthquake had an intermediate depth of 96 km.

Date and Time:	Apr 29, 2025 12:11PM (Santo Domingo Time) - Apr 29, 2025 16:11 Universal Time.
Location:	34 km SSE of Punta Cana, La Altagracia, Dominican Republic. Coordinates 18°17'54"N 68°16'48"W.
Map:	Map of area around epicenter. Click to open in Google Maps.
Magnitude:	MAG 4.6 Detected by 27 stations. Maximum Error Range ±0.029 .
Depth:	96 km (60 mi) An intermediate depth.
Tsunami Risk:	Low tsunami risk Earthquakes under MAG-6.5 do not usually cause tsunami's. Always stay cautious - More info here.

Nearby towns and cities

Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico are both located within 300km distance of the epicenter of the earthquake.

Punta Cana in La Altagracia, Dominican Republic is the nearest significant place from the epicenter. The earthquake occurred 34 kilometer (21 mi) south-southeast of Punta Cana.

Multiple large cities are in proximity of today's earthquake. Santo Domingo is located 171 km to the west. Santiago de los Caballeros is located 285 km to the west-northwest. Santo Domingo Este is located 168 km to the west.

The table below provides an overview of all places in proximity of today's earthquake.

Overview of nearby places

Shaking reported by 15 people

People that feel an earthquake may report their experience to the US Geographic Survey. Currently, 15 people have reported shaking in 6 places, all within Dominican Republic.We keep updating this article as more ground reports become available. You may report that you felt this earthquake here.

Places with most reports:

• Santo Domingo, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic: 8 people.
• Boca de Yuma, La Altagracia, Dominican Republic: 2 people.
• Otra Banda, La Altagracia, Dominican Republic: 2 people.
• Hato Mayor, Hato Mayor, Dominican Republic: 1 person.
• La Romana, La Romana, Dominican Republic: 1 person.
• Tamboril, Santiago, Dominican Republic: 1 person.

5 Aftershocks detected

Since this main shock, 5 smaller aftershocks were detected. A 3.8 magnitude earthquake hit 8 hrs later 87 km (54 mi) north-east of this earthquake.

This main shock was prefaced by 3 smaller foreshocks. Roughly 3 days before this earthquake, a foreshock measuring MAG-3.6 was detected nearby this earthquake.

Overview of foreshocks and aftershocks

More earthquakes coming?

Aftershocks are usually at least 1 order of magnitude less strong than main shocks. The more time passes, the smaller the chance and likely strength of any potential aftershocks.

In only six percent of cases, significant earthquakes are followed by a larger main shock, making the current earthquake a foreshock. While the chance of this happening is not so large, it is adviced to maintain cautiousness in the hours and days following a major earthquake.

Earthquakes like this happen often in the region

Earthquakes of this strength are very common in the region. This is the strongest earthquake to hit since February 25th, 2025, when a 5.9 magnitude earthquake hit 130 km (81 mi) further north. An even stronger magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck on January 7th, 2020.

In total, 56 earthquakes with a magnitude of 4.6 or higher have been registered within 300km (186 mi) of this epicenter in the past 10 years. This comes down to an average of once every 2 months.

Low tsunami risk

Based on early data it appears this earthquake was not strong enough (lower than MAG-6.5) to be likely to cause destructive tsunami's. However this earthquake appeared to have hit at a shallow depth under sea, so stay cautious and monitor advice from local authorities.

Tsunami Risk Factors

Sources

Last updated 20/05/25 02:28 (). This article is automatically generated based on available data. We keep checking multiple sources for additional information. This article gets updated as new details on this earthquake become available.

1. US Geographic Society (USGS): Earthquake pr2025119001
2. European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC): Earthquake 20250429_0000224
3. Geonames.org: World Cities Database
4. Google Maps: Static API
5. Earthquakelist.org: Historic Earthquakes Database

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