:format(png):focal(988.3333333333334x681.6666666666667:998.3333333333334x671.6666666666667)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gfrmedia/BG7K6CKQ2VAE7AMACLGGGSSKMY.jpg)
The southwestern area of Puerto Rico has experienced, since 10:00 a.m. Wednesday, over 100 seismic events. including three tremors of magnitude 4.8, 4.69 and 4.1 recorded between noon and 2:12 p.m. today, Thursday.
For that reason, the doctor Victor Orfe, director of the Puerto Rico Seismic Network, urge the public to review their contingency plans, as it has indicated that it is very likely that the earthquake will continue for the rest of the day, although, perhaps, with less intensity.
Orphan explained to The New Day what the tremors that began on Wednesday night are part of a reenergization of the seismic event that has affected the southwestern part of the island since December 28, 2019, When a telluric movement of magnitude 4.7 was registered in almost all the island.
On January 2, 2020 a magnitude 4.5 event occurred, and on January 7 a magnitude 6.4 earthquake occurred that collapsed houses and left extensive damage. Since then, the southwest area has hardly stopped shaking. There are two main faults running through the island from west to east, as are other minor faults.
:format(png)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gfrmedia/65YQYDJQGZFRFCKHEFFRKLKUHI.png)
“These sequences have these particularities, with periods of relative calm, and then events like the ones we recorded today occur. In June and July we had another period of activity in the Ponce area, just like in May. It is very likely that seismic activity will continue for the rest of the day, “he said orphaned by telephone.
“It is in the same region and the same sequence that comes active, which has not finished its activity yet. Of the more than one hundred events recorded, the largest has been the magnitude 4.9 and felt in almost the entire island. we have not received any reports of damage, “he added.
Incidentally, the director of the Seismic Network argued that it was pure coincidence that a series of seismic events were recorded again on December 28, 2019., Date on which the seismic activity that continues affecting the island began.
“It is pure coincidence. This sequence has presented these anomalies. In May, June and July, in the summer months, we had seismic activity, and also in August, but not at the level we experience this morning. The entire geographical area of southwestern Puerto Rico, from Racó to Guayama-Salinas, is exposed to seismic movements, particularly the towns of Lajas, Guánica, Yauco, Peñuelas, Guayanilla and even Ponce, which is the area where concentrating this activity, ”the expert explained.
Orphan, however, emphasizes that, due to the reenergization of the telluric sequence, the population must remain attentive to the Seismic Network and other official channels.
“I echo the recommendations of the Negotiated for Emergency Management and Disaster Management (Nmead). Where so much seismic activity has taken place, as in southwestern Puerto Rico, and where so many structures have presented problems at different levels, any structure that is compromised is not certain to be inhabited. Because? Because we already saw that the sequence continues to produce seismic activity and any event of this nature could lead to additional damage. The minimum we want is people trapped in structures, “Orfe stressed.
“I know that we are in the middle of Christmas, that we have activities and that, within the limitations due to the pandemic, we want to celebrate and be with our families. Our exhortation is to keep calm; we know it is a very difficult situation and we understand it. “But we have to have contingency plans, to have our backpacks ready for any eventuality,” Orfe emphasized.
“There is no way to say that this is a harbinger of a major event or whether we will return to relative tranquility. It is very difficult to argue about either scenario because there is no way to know it in detail. Within this uncertainty it is best to continue with our Christmas night, but attentive and ready, keeping in our memory what we will do in case of any need or emergency“, Stressed the director of the Seismic Network.