Earthquake survivors fear for more tremors
Residents living in tents as houses unsafe, schools shut down
Living out in the open, their nerves on edge after a series of earthquakes that have shaken Puerto Rico, some 5,000 people are hoping that their President, Donald Trump, will heed the island’s plea to be designated a disaster zone and free muchneeded aid.
Since December 28, more than 1,000 tremors have rattled the US island territory in the Caribbean, which just two years ago was devastated by two powerful hurricanes in quick succession.
In Yauco, one of the areas worst hit by the earthquakes, dozens of people were sitting on cot beds on Wednesday in the parking lot of a municipal stadium, sheltered from the sun by white tents and blue tarpaulins handed out by the federal disaster management agency, known as Fema.
“The most difficult thing is the psychological aspect,” said Wilfredo Rodriguez, 31. His house had been fractured by the seismic movement and he has spent a week living with his children, aged six and 10, under an awning.
“We are living in constant fear of another powerful tremor,” he said.
He only returns to his house to wash, then hurries back to the shelter. “We worry that there’ll be a more powerful tremor while we are inside the house,” he said.
Throughout the day, volunteers arrive to hand out food and toys for the children who fill the shelters: schools have been suspended because the buildings are not sturdy enough to withstand another quake.
The island’s earthquake detection system has registered 1,104 tremors in the past two weeks alone, of which 186 could be felt by the population. By comparison, during the whole of 2019 there were 6,442 tremors, of which just 62 could be felt by people on the island.
Further south, in Guanico, Juan Santiago decided to move into a shelter on Saturday after a tremor of 5.9 on the Richter scale hit the island. “The mountain shook and rocks and earth started to come down,” her said.
“My house has a crack in it and is about to fall down.”
The government of Puerto Rico said that as of Monday, there were 4,924 people living in 28 shelters in 14 municipalities. There were no figures on how many buildings had been damaged or destroyed.
Puerto Rico’s governor Wanda Vazquez Garced called on Trump to declare the earthquake a disaster and clear the way for desperately needed aid. Trump had declared an emergency days before, but the governor wanted more.
The declaration of an emergency frees up to $5m (R72m) in aid for the island, although Congress can push that figure up. But if the situation is designated a disaster, there is no ceiling on funding, a Fema spokesperson said.
On Wednesday, the government said it would release $8.2bn (R18bn) in delayed hurricane relief that had been stalled after the president threatened to divert Puerto Rico’s emergency funds to help pay for his wall on the USMexico border.
Trump has accused the government of Puerto Rico of incompetence and siphoning off hurricane relief money.