U.S. NEWS EARTHQUAKE HITS PUERTO RICO, ISLAND JOLTED BY 5.8 MAGNITUDE QUAKE
A 5.8 magnitude earthquake shook the entire island of Puerto Rico on Monday morning, the strongest in a flurry of quakes to strike the U.S. territory in recent days.
The relatively shallow 6-mile-deep quake struck at 6:32 a.m. just south of the island, where it was felt most strongly, according to the U.S. Geological Service. Several smaller temblors followed, including a 4.9-magnitude quake that frightened residents all over again just before 11 a.m., according to the USGS.
There was no tsunami threat, and no casualties had been reported, according to officials.
People were forced outside of their homes, afraid to go back inside, even as preparations and celebrations for Three Kings Day should have been underway. And thousands of residents lost power after the quake affected some of the electrical substations in the area.
“My entire family woke up screaming,” Dr. Sindia Alvarado, who lives in the southern coastal town of Peñuelas, east of Guayanilla, told The Associated Press. “I thought the house was going to crack in half.”
The southwest coastal town of Guánica opened a shelter after several families lost their homes. At least five residences collapsed in the town, according to reports in El Nuevo Día, the island’s largest newspaper.
Gov. Wanda Vázquez Garced urged people to stay composed as residents in the south posted pictures of damaged houses and rocks and boulders blocking roads.
“Citizens must remain calm and have their action plans prepared to protect themselves,” Garced wrote on Twitter.
She said she was in touch with the mayors of Guayanilla and Guánica, and bridges and structures that have been inspected following quakes and tremors of the past couple of weeks will be reviewed again.
In Guayanilla, a rock formation popular with locals and tourists alike known as Playa Ventana — which means Window Beach since the rock formed what looked like a window — was gone; the top broke off during Monday’s earthquake.
SOURCE|REGION
