← Back to Sessions

Re-Computation of the Mw6.4 on January 7, 2020 Shakemap Using Fault Characterization

Description: 

The Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands region is not exempt from destructive earthquakes. On January 7,2020 at 08:24 UTC a Mw 6.4 earthquake occurred in southwestern Puerto Rico (SWPR). This event was located near offshore and had a mixed normal and strike-slip motion (Liu et al., 2020, ANSS-ComCat) and cause severe infrastructure damage and economic property losses. In order to understand the seismic hazard is also important to understand if some tectonics boundaries where deformation remains diffuse over long periods of geologic time and do not coalesce into one or more mature faults. (Vanacore et al. 2020).

An efficient emergency response in the event of a damaging earthquake will be crucial to minimizing the loss of life and disruption of lifeline systems in Puerto Rico and facilitate a faster recovery. This event provides a real-life test to auto-evaluate the outcome of the current earthquakes and tsunami protocols and work towards improvements in case a larger event strikes in the future, focusing on the near field. The high seismic hazard and high tsunami potential in Puerto Rico together with the poor construction practice can result in a potentially devastating combination. This abstract presents the recalculation of the shakemap using recent fault characterization. The primary duty of the Puerto Rico Seismic Network (PRSN) is to identify and provide rapid information on local, regional, and teleseismic earthquakes and help the TSP (tsunami service provider) to broadcast tsunami messages to Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands.

Session: ShakeMap-related Research, Development, Operations, Applications and Uses [Poster]

Type: Poster

Date: 4/19/2023

Presentation Time: 08:00 AM (local time)

Presenting Author: Jose Rivera

Student Presenter: No

Invited Presentation: 

Authors