Puerto Rico Hit by 5.8-Magnitude Earthquake

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After a series of seismic activities that hit Puerto Rico in the late 2019 until last week, the U.S. territory has experienced a 5.8-magnitude quake before dawn Monday. According to a report by ABC7, including small landslides and power outages have been recorded and some homes were severely damaged. It was one of the strongest quakes yet to hit the U.S. territory following the 4.5 quake last Thursday.

According to the U.S. Geological Service, the quake struck at 6:32 a.m. (1032 GMT) just south of the San Juan Island at a relatively shallow depth of 10 kilometers (6 miles). No tsunami threats were raised.

Angel Vazquez, emergency management director for the southern coastal city of Ponce reported that there were power outages in some parts of Puerto Rico following the quake.

"This is one of the strongest quakes to date since it started shaking on Dec. 28," he said. "It lasted a long time."

As shown in the pictures posted by residents in southern coastal towns, there were partially collapsed homes and large boulders blocking roads. In spite of this, officials urged people to remain calm.

In an interview with Associated Press, Dr. Sindia Alvarado, who lives in the southern coastal town of Penuelas, said the quake left her petrified.

"My entire family woke up screaming," she said. "I thought the house was going to crack in half."

Attorney Jose Francisco Benitez who was in a hotel in the southwest coastal town of Guanica with his girlfriend when the earthquake struck, told the AP that clients of the hotel panicked as they tried to flee in their cars, only to realize that large boulders were obstructing the only highway heading north to the capital of San Juan.

"There was a state of panic," he said. "There were even people in their underwear walking around the hotel."

He added, he has never felt anything like this. "It was like a giant grabbed our room and shook it."

The string of quakes began the night of December 28, with a 4.7-magnitude quake followed by a 5.1-magnitude one that hit near Puerto Rico's south coast. Dozens of panicked people rushed into the streets for safety. It was also reported that goods fell off supermarket shelves, cracks formed in homes, and a large rock fell and blocked a road. Since then, more than 1,100 earthquakes have recorded by the seismograph in that region, majority have not been felt, except for the 4.2-magnitude one that hit December 31 and the one on Thursday.

Puerto Rico's Seismic Network director Víctor Huérfano said in an interview that throughout his 29-year service in the agency, it was the first time he observed this kind of activity. "There's no way to predict when it's going to end, or if it's going to lead to a major event."

He added that the series of seismic activities have been extremely superficial and have occurred along three faults in Puerto Rico's southwest region: Lajas Valley, Montalva Point and the Guayanilla Canyon.

"In general, the force behind all of this is the North American plate and the Caribbean plate squeezing Puerto Rico," he said.

According to the director, the same phenomenon occurred in late September last year along Puerto Rico's northwest coast following a 6.0-magnitude earthquake that led to more than 1,200 quakes in that area, the strongest aftershocks recorded were at magnitude 4.7 and 4.6, and hit within less than an hour in the same region at the same depth.

So far, the largest and most damaging earthquakes to hit Puerto Rico was the 7.3-magnitude earthquake which struck near the island's northwest coast in October 1918, unleashing a tsunami and killing 116 people.