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Date: 4/22/2021

Session Time: 11:30 AM to 12:30 PM Pacific

The 7 January 2020 South of Indios (M6.4) Earthquake in Puerto Rico, Response and Lessons

The Puerto Rico archipelago is located in the active plate boundary between the North American and the Caribbean plates. Large magnitude earthquakes and destructive tsunamis are part of its geologic history, including events in the last 500 years, i.e. 1670, 1787, 1867 and 1918. The most recent event occurred on 7 January 2020 (M6.4), causing significant damages and destruction to the main island.

Although the southwestern region of Puerto Rico is identified as one of the most active regions in the area, it was not until 28 December 2019 that the southwestern region of the island experienced a major significant event since 1918. The activity consisted of an ongoing seismic sequence with the largest earthquake, magnitude 6.4, occurring on 7 January 2020 located South of Indios neighborhood of Guayanilla, Puerto Rico. In the aftermath of the event, the Island was declared in an official state of emergency at local and federal levels.

One person was killed and four were injured during the event. The main shock caused a power outage across the island, as well as structural damage to roads and bridges, especially in the southwestern region. Public offices, churches and schools were closed. Hospitals mostly in the southwestern region were evacuated for safety reasons. Residents were terrified to go into their homes for fear that another quake will bring the structures down. 

In this session we will discuss the response carried out at all levels from the event detection, alert notifications, research and field work to the emergency response and public preparedness. Lessons learned will be a topic of discussion as well.

Conveners

Victor A. Huerfano, Puerto Rico Seismic Network (victor@prsnmail.uprm.edu)
Lorna Jaramillo-Nieves, Universidad de Puerto Rico – Recinto de Río Piedras (lorna.jaramillo@upr.edu)
Gisela Baez-Sánchez, Puerto Rico Seismic Network (gisela.baez1@upr.edu)
Wildaomaris Gonzalez, Bureau of Emergency Management and Disaster Administration, PR (wgonzalez@premapr.onmicrosoft.com)

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