This article is from the source 'nytimes' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/07/us/puerto-rico-earthquake.html

The article has changed 13 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 10 Version 11
Emergency Declared as Deadly New Quake Terrifies Puerto Rico ‘Scarier’ Than Hurricane Maria: A Deadly Earthquake Terrifies Puerto Rico
(about 7 hours later)
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. PONCE, P.R. — The auditorium where Lenda Torres Rodríguez and some of her neighbors sought refuge on Tuesday after the latest in a series of earthquakes convulsed Puerto Rico seemed almost as unreliable as the houses they had abandoned. Every time a new aftershock hit, the windows made ominous cracking sounds.
The governor of Puerto Rico, Wanda Vázquez, declared a state of emergency throughout Puerto Rico and activated the National Guard. So they huddled outside on beach chairs, or hunkered down in their cars, waiting for help from the government that by Tuesday evening had still not arrived.
“In 102 years, Puerto Rico had not experienced anything like this,” she said. “This is scarier than the water Maria brought,” said Ms. Torres, 44, recalling the last epic disaster that drove her from her home, Hurricane Maria in 2017.
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 deadly government failures that left the island in a state of chaos for months after the 2017 storm robbed Puerto Ricans of any belief that their leaders could manage another natural disaster. With a sense of doomed inevitability, people have braced in the two years since for the next emergency that would once again leave them feeling unprepared and abandoned.
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. What they did not expect was for the menace to come from the earth rather than the sky.
The governor warned people whose houses do not meet building codes to seek shelter. About 255 people were already staying in shelters on Tuesday. The strong 6.4-magnitude earthquake that rocked Puerto Rico on Tuesday plunged almost the entire island into a blackout similar to the one following Maria, reduced some homes to rubble and triggered new fears that the government would find itself overwhelmed by catastrophe. It was the second big quake in two days.
“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.” Unable to catch a break from Mother Nature, few Puerto Ricans expressed confidence that public officials would protect them from new powerful quakes or the devastation they could cause. A United States commonwealth facing crushing debt and bankruptcy, on the heels of a political upheaval that ousted two governors last summer, found itself asking: Again?
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. “I prefer Maria,” declared Nicole Santos Torres, 21, Ms. Torres’s daughter, as she sat surrounded by relatives outside the Juan “Pachín” Vicéns Auditorium in Ponce, the biggest city in southern Puerto Rico, the region most affected by the quake.
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. A few people in a red Jeep distributed food late on Tuesday afternoon, the only thing many evacuees had eaten all day. Everything in the city was closed, leaving the streets dark and deserted, even of the police.
“The people are scared,” Ms. Meléndez said. “There are homes that are totally destroyed.” The government tried to ease widespread fears by sending some workers to damaged areas and promising that the electricity would be restored soon, at least in the areas away from the epicenter of the quakes. But Puerto Ricans heard similar pledges after Maria — and some people did not get power back for nearly a year.
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. “I don’t think Puerto Rico is ready for more devastation,” said Yesenia Ramos, 53, who lives in a two-story wooden house in Ponce. “And this looked the same as when Maria hit.”
“It’s not safe,” Ms. Meléndez said. “The earth is moving constantly.” Some homes still have faded and frayed blue tarps covering their roofs, never fixed after the storm. The federal government has yet to disburse all of the aid promised after Maria.
A 60-year-old city employee begged for help from the mainland. The roof of a middle school in the hard-hit town of Guánica, west of Ponce, collapsed, prompting worries about the vulnerable state of older buildings. Officials were unable to say on Tuesday if the schools, where classes have been canceled until Monday, had been constructed to withstand seismic activity.
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. At least one person was killed and seven schools damaged, said Gov. Wanda Vázquez, who declared a state of emergency and activated the National Guard. More than 250 people fled their homes, she said, and 300,000 customers were without water.
“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. The tremors seriously damaged several power plants. An island that had already seen billions of dollars invested in its electric grid once again found itself in a familiar place: in the dark and in a panic.
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.” “We are a resilient people,” Ms. Vázquez said. “We have responded to a lot of difficult situations. This has hit us once more.”
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. There were other eerie similarities to the hurricane. In San Juan, the capital, hopeful travelers crowded the airport, fanning themselves with bits of paper because the airport was running on generator power without air-conditioning. Long lines formed for gas.
“This has been very difficult,” he said. “No one can prepare for a disaster like this.” At one of them, Nilsa Maymi, 52, said she was trying to stay off her cellphone to save the battery. She was deciding whether to buy fuel for her car or her generator — the same logistical calculation she needed to make two years earlier.
Mr. Torres said he had slept less than four hours in the last two days. “I am worried that a stronger earthquake will come, and I don’t think we are prepared for something stronger,” said Ms. Maymi, a loan analyst. “I have never experienced this. It’s a bit like reliving the sensation from Maria.”
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.” Ángel Figueroa Jaramillo, the head of the electrical workers’ union, posted updates on Twitter suggesting that the situation was even more dire than the authorities had conveyed. He recorded himself outside a major electrical complex where three mega-generators appeared to be perfectly still.
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. By late afternoon, the electric grid was producing 53 megawatts, he said. Puerto Rico usually runs on 2,000.
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. Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York said he was dispatching technical experts from the New York Power Authority to aid in the response. Enduring electrical problems plagued the island after Hurricane Maria in 2017, and Puerto Rico’s former governor, Ricardo A. Rosselló, was assailed because he failed to call in the help of outside power companies.
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. After spending $3.2 billion, erecting some 52,000 new electrical poles and stringing 6,000 miles of wire from the federal government alone, the Puerto Rico electricity system was left in not-much-better condition than it was before Maria cut power to every home and business on the island. The former Federal Emergency Management Agency official in charge of the process was arrested in September, accused of steering work to one of the contractors with whom she was involved in a romantic relationship.
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. On Tuesday, FEMA said it was in contact with island officials and was considering the governor’s request for an emergency declaration.
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. “This is more nerve-racking than Maria because for Maria we were warned, and we were aware of what a hurricane coming through Puerto Rico would be like,” said Harold Rosario, a spokesman for the mayor of Guánica. “But Puerto Rico has never experienced an earthquake this big. You never know when the ground will start shaking again, and if it does you don’t know if it will be a big earthquake or a small one.”
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. About half of the sirens that are supposed to alert communities to coming emergencies — such as tsunamis — are still not working because insurance companies denied municipalities’ insurance claims, said Carlos Acevedo, Puerto Rico’s emergency management commissioner.
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. Tuesday’s big quake, the latest in a series of temblors that began in late December, struck at 4:24 a.m. five miles southwest of Tallaboa on Puerto Rico’s southwestern coast, according to the United States Geological Survey. A tsunami watch issued by the local authorities was quickly canceled but led to widespread concern anyway. Strong aftershocks continued throughout the day.
“For those who have lived here their whole lives, this is their history,” Father Díaz said. “Their sacraments, their wedding.” On Monday, a 5.8-magnitude quake and aftershocks terrified residents, leveled homes and destroyed a well-known natural rock formation.
A 4.8-magnitude aftershock interrupted him. Then a member of the congregation came up to say hello. Nelson Martínez Guillén, 73, died in Ponce on Tuesday after a wall fell on him, Mayor Mayita Meléndez said. Ángel Vázquez Torres, the city’s director of emergency management, said nine people had been injured, including a woman who was trapped in her home for three hours after a wall collapsed on her.
“We will rebuild,” he reassured the woman. Carlos Correa, the shortstop for the Houston Astros, who is from Ponce, said on social media that he had been jolted awake by the tremor in the middle of the night: “I feel you’re never prepared for something like that.”
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. In Guayanilla, another coastal town near the quake’s epicenter, the Immaculate Conception church partly collapsed. The church had withstood a huge quake in 1918 with some damage, the Rev. Melvin Díaz Aponte said. This time, both bell towers crumbled. The last Mass held on Monday took place in the outdoor courtyard because Monday’s quake made people nervous to be inside. On Tuesday, the courtyard was full of debris.
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. “We will rebuild,” Father Díaz reassured a member of his congregation.
Around Puerto Rico, police officials begged for help. Richard S. Olson, director of the Extreme Events Institute at Florida International University, said Puerto Ricans were likely grappling with an immediate sense of grief, as well as the constant reminder that sudden events can cause major shifts in their lives.
“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.” That sense of helplessness is exacerbated when there is little faith that government officials are getting infrastructure ready for quakes and storms, he said.
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. “To be blunt, all of these event losses are human-made,” he said. “I never use the term ‘natural disasters.’ That makes nature to blame.”
“We’re all just waiting for the next one,” she said. Yarimar Bonilla, a political anthropologist at Hunter College in New York, was in Fajardo on Puerto Rico’s eastern coast when the quake hit. She said people were particularly frazzled because of contradictory messages from the authorities about whether they were supposed to huddle under a table or seek higher ground. People were miffed by politicians who used the tremors as campaign opportunities, she said, even as it was increasingly unclear whether emergency management plans were in place.
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. “How are people in this situation supposed to react when this is such an improbable situation after already having gone through such an improbable hurricane situation?” she said.
“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.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.”“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. Edmy Ayala reported from Ponce, P.R., Patricia Mazzei from San Juan, P.R., Frances Robles from Miami and Sandra E. Garcia from New York. Alejandra Rosa contributed reporting from San Juan, Ivan Penn from Los Angeles, Daniel Victor from Hong Kong, and Maria Cramer and Vanessa Swales from New York.