Via The New York Times: Puerto Rico Governor Declares Emergency After New 6.4 Earthquake. Excerpt:
MIAMI — The strongest tremor yet in a week of heavy seismic activity rocked Puerto Rico early on Tuesday morning, knocking out power to much of the island, seriously damaging homes and buildings and leaving at least one person dead.
The governor of Puerto Rico, Wanda Vázquez, declared a state of emergency throughout Puerto Rico and activated the National Guard.
“In 102 years, Puerto Rico had not experienced anything like this,” she said.
The 6.4-magnitude quake, which struck five miles southwest of Tallaboa on Puerto Rico’s southwestern coast, was recorded at 4:24 a.m. local time, according to the United States Geological Survey. It was the second consecutive day that an earthquake hit the island before dawn, terrifying residents scared about the cumulative effect on older buildings that may be unsafe.
The governor warned that the seismic activity is expected to continue in the coming days, as most of the island struggles with the massive power outage. A power plant in the south suffered significant damage, she said. The outage also left nearly a third of the island without running water.
The governor warned people whose houses do not meet building codes to seek shelter. About 255 people were already staying in shelters on Tuesday.
“There is nothing to indicate from the experts who know these types of disasters that this is going to be bigger than what we have seen so far, but yes we will have repetitions and tremors that we will be feeling,” Ms. Vázquez said. “This is going to be happening for the next few days. How long? We cannot predict.”
