Puerto Rico residents felt the ground shaking under their feet on Saturday, after a powerful 5.5-magnitude quake hit the unincorporated US territory, followed by several aftershocks. Some damage was reported on the ground.
The initial quake was recorded 11 km from Tallaboa, a small community in the south of the island, the USGS reported. A series of less powerful seismic events in the area followed within an hour.
Footage purportedly shot in the aftermath of the quake shows damaged buildings.
There was another earthquake in southern Puerto Rico this morning, w/ multiple (ongoing) aftershocks. https://t.co/o2Md4xoNyd
Other images show rocks from a landslide sending clouds of dust into the air over a nearby road.
A strong 5.5 #earthquake#Terremoto#Temblor#Sismo near Guanica, Ponce #PuertoRico ???? pic.twitter.com/e0swuPkMhW
Photos from the port of Ponce, which is located about 10km east of Tallaboa, showed streets littered with rubble from a damaged building.
?Se registran daños en el Casco Urbano de la Ciudad tras fuerte terremoto de magnitud de entre 5 y 5.5. Personal municipal que se preparaba para distribuir compras nos enviaron estas fotos. Esperando en Dios que todos se encuentren bien. ? pic.twitter.com/kX148XCUWm
The quake also caused some damage to a power line connecting Ponce with Penuelas in the west, causing an outage, the local energy authority said. The malfunction has since been repaired.
The Saturday quake is the latest in a series that has been affecting Puerto Rico since December 2019, killing and injuring several people and prompting the governor to declare a state of emergency after a 6.4 magnitude shoсk in January.
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