January 08, 2020

Anna Murray 

On January 7th, the earthquake happened in Puerto Rico caused many people to live without power and water. The southwest of Puerto Rico was the most severely impacted area during the 6.4-magnitude earthquake. The earthquake killed at least one person and damaged around 300 homes. 

After the quake, the Costa Sur Plant was out of service. It might take several days to restore the electricity for the whole island. The shortage of power brought the nightmare to Puerto Ricans. The aftermath of the earthquake was just like The Hurricane Marica in 2017. People had to live in the darkness for a long time.

The demand for shelters also increased in the southwest of Puerto Rico. Puerto Ricans felt unsafe to stay inside of the house. Fernando Gil, secretary of Puerto Rico’s Housing Department, requested people to stay in shelters with family if they felt unsafe to stay in the house.

Meanwhile, education officials stated that 24 schools in Puerto Rico were affected. The engineer team was on the schedule to check the building of the schools. It is too early to decide when to start the school. 

The state emergency was announced. United State President Donald Trump already authorized the Federal Emergency Management Agency to assist the government of Puerto Rico to rebuild the homes with financial assistance.

In addition to the Federal emergency assistance, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services ensured that local hospitals had sufficient funds to meet their need. However, some local officials worried that the emergency assistant might not arrive soon. Up to now, there was a lot of uncertainty after the quake. People were depressed about this situation. 

Photo:Webshot.