SAN JUAN (AP) — (Jan. 9, 2020) — More than 2,000 people in shelters. Nearly one million without power. Hundreds of thousands without water.
December 28, 2019 to present
At the end of December 2019 and in early January 2020, the southwestern part of the island of Puerto Rico was struck by a series of strong earthquakes, including six that were of magnitude 5 or greater. The largest and most damaging of this sequence occurred on January 7 at 04:24 AST (08:24 UTC) and had a magnitude of 6.4 M and a maximum felt intensity of VII (Very strong) on the Modified Mercalli intensity scale. An M 5.8 earthquake the previous day caused the destruction of a natural arch, a tourist attraction at Punta Ventana in Guayanilla.