Why Is Puerto Rico Having So Many Earthquakes? https://nyti.ms/2T0prEM
Sadly, the poor people of Puerto Rico can't catch a break. 😭🙏🏻🙏🙏🏽🙏🏾🙏🏿
Why Is Puerto Rico Having So Many Earthquakes?
This week’s strong tremors are a reminder that the Caribbean is an active seismic zone.
By Adeel Hassan | Published Jan. 7, 2020 Updated 4:08 p.m. ET | New York Times | Posted January 07, 2020 |
Puerto Rico has been trembling for more than a week.
An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.4 struck off the coast of the island at 4:24 a.m. local time on Tuesday, according to the United States Geological Survey. That came after a week of smaller tremors clustered in the same area offshore.
Three strong aftershocks, with preliminary estimates of 5.6, 5.2 and 4.5 magnitude, followed Tuesday’s big quake. A bigger aftershock, of 5.8 magnitude, hit at 7:18 a.m. local time. The temblors knocked out power to much of the island, seriously damaging homes and buildings and leaving at least one person dead.
Tuesday’s shaking followed a 5.8-magnitude quake and aftershocks that leveled homes on Monday.
“Things are really very tense about what has been going on, because this is not normal — so many tremors,” Mayor Nelson Torres Yordán of Guayanilla said this week.
But the Caribbean, a region that faces the threat of hurricanes from the Atlantic in late summer and early fall, is also subject to seismic hazards like those striking Puerto Rico this week.
Why are there so many earthquakes in Puerto Rico right now?
At about three times the size of Rhode Island, Puerto Rico is squeezed between the border of the North American and Caribbean tectonic plates.
The Puerto Rico Trench, north of Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands, is an undersea fault zone. The North American plate is sliding under the Caribbean plate there, creating the potential for earthquakes and undersea landslides that can set off tsunamis.
“We’re just as likely to have earthquakes as a place like California, Japan, New Zealand, Alaska,” said Elizabeth Vanacore, a seismologist with the Puerto Rico Seismic Network.
When the tectonic plates in the region slide past each other and squeeze together, energy and stress build up until one side of a fault pops up, unleashing an earthquake. The earthquakes redistribute stresses along the fault for a time, until those stresses build up again and new tremors occur.
Should residents be worried about a tsunami?
Mayita Meléndez, mayor of the city of Ponce, said people living near beaches are desperate to get out of their homes for fear of tsunamis. “It’s not safe,” Ms. Meléndez said. “The earth is moving constantly.”
Early this morning, the United States National Tsunami Warning Center said there was no tsunami threat from Tuesday morning’s earthquake. The local authorities initially issued a tsunami watch before canceling it, according to Puerto Rico’s emergency management agency.
A tsunami happens when a quake on the seabed suddenly pushes water upward, producing a perilously towering wave. In 1918, an earthquake near the island’s northwestern coast triggered a tsunami that killed 118 people, according to the geological service.
How rare are earthquakes in the region?
Puerto Rico has seen damaging quakes before, but major earthquakes in the southwestern part of the island are unusual in recent history.
The last significant temblors recorded in that area, in 1991 and 1999, had a magnitude of about 4.1, according to the Puerto Rico Seismic Network, whose data dates to 1986.
Major earthquakes have regularly devastated cities in the Caribbean, including Kingston, the capital of Jamaica, which was destroyed twice in three centuries. Ten years ago, a 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck Haiti on Jan. 12, killing more than 200,000 people and destroying tens of thousands of buildings.
Is it safe to travel to Puerto Rico?
Seismologists said that more earthquakes are expected to be felt on the island in the next few days because the seismic activity is occurring close to land. But the frequency of aftershocks is expected to slow down over time, which means the chances of another intense earthquake will also fall.
Arrivals and departures at the international airport in San Juan, which was running on generators, were operating on or close to schedule Tuesday morning.
Alejandra Rosa and Patricia Mazzei contributed reporting.
Emergency Declared as Deadly New Quake Terrifies Puerto Rico
One death was reported amid widespread power failures and serious structural damage to some homes and buildings.
By Patricia Mazzei, Maria Cramer and Frances Robles | Published Jan. 7, 2020 Updated 2:49 PM ET | New York Times | Posted January 07, 2020 |
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.
The governor warned that the seismic activity is expected to continue in the coming days, as most of the island struggles with the huge power outage. A power plant in the south sustained 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.”
White House officials said President Trump had been briefed on the earthquakes and that the Federal Emergency Management Agency director, Pete Gaynor, had been in touch with senior Puerto Rican officials.
Nelson Martínez Guillén, 73, died in the city of Ponce after a wall fell on him, Mayor Mayita Meléndez said. A woman suffered a broken leg after she was pinned under a wall.
“The people are scared,” Ms. Meléndez said. “There are homes that are totally destroyed.”
Tremors were felt through the region and people living near the beaches are desperate to get out of their homes for fear of tsunamis, she said.
“It’s not safe,” Ms. Meléndez said. “The earth is moving constantly.”
A 60-year-old city employee begged for help from the mainland.
Reynaldo González, whose uncle, Mr. Martínez, was killed, said that his uncle’s apartment, in the Jardines del Caribe neighborhood, was undergoing construction work. The bathroom wall next to Mr. Martínez’s bed collapsed on him as he was apparently getting up, Mr. Gónzalez told WAPA radio.
“We heard a roar” at the time of the quake, Mr. González said, but it was not until later, when his father called out to Mr. Martínez, that they realized what had happened.
Stephy Valentín, a 22-year-old resident of Ponce, said she and her family rushed to hide under the kitchen table after they were awakened by the strong shaking. All they could do was pray, she said. “It was scary. We’ve never experienced something like this, and it’s still going on. Aftershock after aftershock.”
Angel Vázquez Torres, the director of emergency management in Ponce, said nine people were injured in the city during the earthquake, including a woman who was trapped in her home for three hours after a wall collapsed on her, pinning her leg.
“This has been very difficult,” he said. “No one can prepare for a disaster like this.”
Mr. Torres said he had slept less than four hours in the last two days.
There is no electricity in the city and some parts of Ponce are without water, he said. “There are tremors happening at this very moment.”
The widespread power outages included San Juan, the capital. The Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority said all of its power plants had gone offline after its “auto protection” systems had been activated. The utility said it hoped to restore electricity elsewhere later on Tuesday.
But mindful of the enduring electrical problems that plagued the island after Hurricane Maria in 2017 — full power wasn’t restored until nearly a year later — New York’s governor, Andrew M. Cuomo, said he was dispatching technical experts from the New York Power Authority to aid in the response.
The United States National Tsunami Warning Center said there was no related tsunami threat. The local authorities initially issued a tsunami watch before canceling it, according to Puerto Rico’s emergency management agency.
The quake’s magnitude was initially reported as 6.6 and later downgraded. Three strong aftershocks with preliminary estimates of 5.6, 5.2 and 4.5 magnitude followed the big quake. A bigger aftershock, of 5.8 magnitude, hit at 7:18 a.m. local time.
Governor Vázquez excused nonessential public employees from work for the day. Mayor Nelson Torres Yordán of Guayanilla said on the radio that there was a lot of fear in the streets. “There’s hysteria,” he told a local television station.
The Immaculate Conception church in the center of town partly collapsed. The church withstood a huge quake in 1918 with some damage, the Rev. Melvin Díaz Aponte said. This time, both bell towers crumbled. The nave stands, but it is fragile.
The last Mass held on Monday took place outside in the courtyard because Monday’s quake made people nervous to be inside. On Tuesday, the courtyard was full of debris.
“For those who have lived here their whole lives, this is their history,” Father Díaz said. “Their sacraments, their wedding.”
A 4.8-magnitude aftershock interrupted him. Then a member of the congregation came up to say hello.
“We will rebuild,” he reassured the woman.
Puerto Ricans ran out of their homes before dawn after being shaken awake by the quake. Officials urged people to stay calm and remain at home, but many people still got into their cars and drove to higher ground, prompting unusually heavy traffic in some areas in the dark. Many homes and buildings in southern coastal towns partially crumbled or sustained serious damage.
Hospital patients, some of them in wheelchairs, were evacuated to a parking lot in the city of Ponce. Patients at Hospital Damas were going back into the building when the biggest aftershock hit, forcing them to evacuate again, the NotiCentro television station reported.
Around Puerto Rico, police officials begged for help.
“Please pray a lot,” Adeli Quiñones, an agent with the police command center in Aibonito, said. “We’re supposed to be providing security for people but we’re also scared for our own families.”
Ms. Quiñones said much of the island is without light and people are trying to buy tickets out of Puerto Rico, or heading inland, away from threatened buildings.
“We’re all just waiting for the next one,” she said.
Angel Ramos, a police officer in Mayagüez, said no one had been injured in the city and buildings appeared to be intact. Still, residents were flooding supermarkets trying to stock up on water and food.
“They’re getting ready,” he said.
On Monday, a 5.8-magnitude quake and aftershocks terrified residents, leveled homes and destroyed a well-known natural rock formation. Smaller tremors have been occurring since the night of Dec. 28, all clustered in the same offshore area.
Puerto Rico’s representative in Congress, Jenniffer González, noted that the preparations from the earlier quake this week saved lives — classes were canceled at schools, some of which went on to experience serious damage.
In the town of Guánica, the main roof of a middle school collapsed after Tuesday morning’s quake, said Harold Rosario, a spokesman for the town’s mayor.
“The school is uninhabitable,” he said. “It’s done.”
He said people who had been forced to flee their homes were taking refuge in a sports arena. Many of them, he said, were weeping with exhaustion and fear. “They’re too afraid to go back to their homes,” he said.
Glenda Colón, 44, from the town of Juncos, went to town with her family to get supplies, and wound up on the street. She said the sound of shaking storm doors on local business was frightening.
“I was with the baby and the little dog and we felt the car move from side to side,” Ms. Colón said.
“Everything’s good,” Ms. Colón added. “Nervous.”
Dariane Torres, 29, who lives in Penuelas, said the earth moved like gelatin.
“The tremors were too strong,” she said. “They were so strong that they gave me panic attacks.”
Marcos Pagán, 31, of Lajas, watched the quake from the seashore, where he operates a water taxi.
“It felt horrible,” he said. “I thought it was the end of the world.”
Patricia Mazzei and Frances Robles reported from Miami, and Maria Cramer from New York. Alejandra Rosa contributed reporting from San Juan, P.R., Vanessa Swales from New York and Daniel Victor from Hong Kong
Earthquake Strikes Puerto Rico, Toppling a Well-Known Natural Wonder
A 5.8-magnitude quake damaged some homes and destroyed an unusual natural rock formation known as Punta Ventana.
By Alejandra Rosa and Patricia Mazzei |
Published Jan. 6, 2020 Updated Jan. 7, 2020, 12:48 a.m. ET | New York Times | Posted January 07, 2020 |
GUÁNICA, P.R. — Paralyzed with fear, Héctor Luis Rodríguez refused to leave his car.
Hours earlier, just before sunrise on Monday, a 5.8-magnitude earthquake had scared him out of bed in southwestern Puerto Rico. The walls in the second story of his house cracked. Inside his vehicle, he found temporary safety.
“I worry that I’m going to be homeless,” he said.
Minutes later, the earth rumbled again.
The strong earthquake and persistent aftershocks that rattled Puerto Rico on Monday damaged vulnerable homes, destroyed a photogenic rock formation and terrified residents scarred by recent hurricanes about the prospect of another devastating disaster.
The quake, which struck at 6:32 a.m. local time, according to the United States Geological Survey, was the strongest to be felt in the coastal towns west of the city of Ponce that have been trembling for more than a week. The rash of smaller tremors began with three shakes of 4.7, 5.0 and 4.7 magnitude in the space of three hours during the night of Dec. 28-29, and have continued since then, clustered in the same area a few miles offshore.
“All of Puerto Rico obviously felt this temblor,” Gov. Wanda Vázquez said, adding that no one was seriously hurt.
Classes at local public schools, which were scheduled to resume on Tuesday after a holiday break, were pushed back until Jan. 13 to give inspectors time to check buildings for damage, she said. Schools will conduct earthquake drills the day they reopen, the governor added.
At least one school in the town of Guayanilla was being used as a shelter on Monday afternoon. Inside another shelter in the town of Guánica, where 31 people sought a safe place to stay, a group of evacuees prayed.
The coastal rock formation known as Punta Ventana, a natural wonder and tourist attraction shaped like a round stone window with a stunning view of the ocean in Guayanilla, had begun to look vulnerable after smaller quakes started to hit the area a week ago, Mayor Nelson Torres Yordán said. On Monday, he said, “it finally fell.”
Puerto Ricans are particularly fond of memes, and they quickly shared one showing the collapsed natural arch covered with a blue tarpaulin like the ones that still cover many homes whose roofs were damaged during Hurricane Maria in 2017.
Among them was Mr. Rodríguez’s house in the Esperanza neighborhood of Guánica, where some of the most serious damage was reported, including five collapsed houses. Now, in addition to the tarp he has had since Maria, Mr. Rodríguez’s house has huge cracks running up and down his green interior walls.
“It cracked open everywhere inside,” said Mr. Rodríguez, 83, a retired bus driver.
The first cracks appeared a few days ago, after the first temblors. They worsened on Monday, and pipes in the bathroom broke, leading to some flooding.
Luz Dastas, 51, whose house in Guánica is also covered by a leaky blue tarp, left with her 26-year-old daughter, Aida Torres, after the first tremors. Monday’s quake opened new cracks in the walls of her house.
When her granddaughter, Alondra Suárez, 7, felt the earth shake one recent night, “I stayed up until the morning,” Alondra said. “I ate a chocolate to see if I could feel better.”
On Monday, strong aftershocks of 4.9, 4.3 and 4.4 magnitude continued to rock the island into the late afternoon, rattling nerves over and over again. Officials warned of possible mudslides and urged people to stay off the roads to allow emergency personnel to assess the damage.
As a result of the quake, the electricity went out across a swath of southwestern Puerto Rico. Governor Vázquez, who toured some of the damage, said she expected power to be restored in Guánica by Tuesday morning.
Monday was Three Kings Day, a holiday in Puerto Rico that is also known as the Feast of the Epiphany. Towns in the area of the quake went ahead with holiday parades on Monday, though some attendees said they felt jittery. José Francisco Benítez, 48, who had traveled to Guánica for the long weekend, said he planned to quickly return to San Juan, the capital.
Mr. Benítez was awakened by the quake at a beach resort in Guánica.
“It started shaking a bit, but then, all of a sudden, we felt a jolt — I’d never seen anything like it,” he said. “Everything shook.”
He said he ran outside in fear, along with everyone else. “There were people in their underwear in the parking lot, everyone in pajamas, little kids,” Mr. Benítez said. “It looked like a movie.”
Supporting columns crumbled underneath Silvestre Alicea’s elevated light green house with white trim, leaving the toppled structure — built on tall columns to protect it from flooding — perched at a precarious angle, with one end of the home tilted skyward. A big Puerto Rican flag waved from the balcony, which now was so near the ground it looked more like a porch.
“Look at my house,” said Mr. Alicea, 66, who returned to Puerto Rico from Brooklyn two years ago, moving in to the house he had built over the course of 30 years in preparation for his retirement. “I was there, in there,” he said.
Mr. Alicea said he planned to spend the night at his sister’s house nearby but could not think further into the future. “I don’t know what I’m going to do,” he said.
In Guayanilla, emergency workers helped a couple and two children whose elevated house collapsed, burying three cars parked underneath. The man who lived inside, Alan Martínez, described to NotiCentro the harrowing moment in which the earth trembled, waking him up as the floor gave way.
“The house fell with us in it,” he said, standing outside barefoot with two bloody scratches on his leg. “The house collapsed, ‘Boom!’”
He picked up one of his children, his wife grabbed the other one, and they made their way out the door. The house had stood on a dozen eight-foot columns. The automobiles below appeared to stave off a complete collapse of the roof, he said.
“We’re alive, thank God, because of the cars,” he said.
His wife, Edlin Ortiz, said they would be unable to salvage the Three Kings Day gifts they had bought for the children — a pair of bicycles, stowed in the trunk of one of the cars. The interview was interrupted by a strong aftershock, which made the woman and a reporter scream and rush off camera to a safer side of the street, away from power lines and poles.
Mayor Torres of Guayanilla said the town opened a shelter for people whose homes were too badly damaged to occupy. He urged the island’s government in San Juan to send social workers to the region to ease people’s nerves.
“Things are really very tense about what has been going on, because this is not normal — so many tremors,” he said.
Elizabeth Vanacore, a seismologist with the Puerto Rico Seismic Network, said people felt the recent quakes because they were shallow and occurred near land.
“People can expect to feel more earthquakes over the next few days, especially given its location near the coast,” Dr. Vanacore said.
Puerto Rico lies near the border of the North American and Caribbean tectonic plates. “We’re just as likely to have earthquakes as a place like California, Japan, New Zealand, Alaska,” Dr. Vanacore said.
The island has seen damaging quakes in the past, including one near the island’s northwestern coast in 1918 that triggered a tsunami and killed 118 people, according to the Geological Service. But major earthquakes in the southwestern part of Puerto Rico have been unusual in recent history. The last significant temblors recorded in that area, in 1991 and 1999, had a magnitude of about 4.1, according to the Seismic Network, whose data dates to 1986.
“While we can’t predict earthquakes, what the public can do is prepare,” Dr. Vanacore said.
Alejandra Rosa reported from Guánica, and Patricia Mazzei from Miami. Kitty Bennett contributed research.
