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A12 WORLD NEWS
Thursday 9 January 2020
Puerto Ricans left homeless after biggest quake in century

By DANICA COTO Survey.
GUANICA, Puerto Rico (AP) The USGS said that while it's
— Cars, cots and plastic virtually certain there will
chairs became temporary be many aftershocks in the
beds for hundreds of fami- next week, the chance of a
lies who lost their homes in magnitude 6 quake -- simi-
southwest Puerto Rico as a lar to Tuesday's -- or stron-
flurry of earthquakes struck ger is around 22 percent.
the island, one of them the In Guánica, some people
strongest in a century. dragged mattresses out-
The magnitude 6.4 quake side their homes or set up
that struck before dawn small tents.
on Tuesday killed one per- Authorities were trying to
son, injured nine others and figure out where to shelter
knocked out power across them all as they handed
the U.S. territory. More than out blankets, food and wa-
250,000 Puerto Ricans re- ter to families gathered at
mained without water on the gymnasium for a sec-
Wednesday and another ond night in a row. Many
half a million without pow- had their belongings in
er, which also affected large garbage bags as
telecommunications. they sat haphazardly on
Another strong aftershock unstable plastic chairs.
of a 4.7-magnitude struck A Puerto Rican flag hangs within the rubble, after it was placed there where store owners and Some slept. Others cradled
on Wednesday near the family help remove supplies from Ely Mer Mar hardware store, which partially collapsed after an their dogs and many sim-
island's southern coast at earthquake struck Guanica, Puerto Rico, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2020. ply stared listlessly into the
the same shallow depth as Associated Press distance. One elderly man
Tuesday's earthquake. No spent an entire day in his
serious damage was imme- ter a quake on Monday, urged them to move there, ring to the 2017 storm that wheelchair, refusing to lay
diately reported. only for the latest shake to at least until the earth stops devastated the island . "I down on a cot.
More than 2,000 people damage that structure — shaking. am asking for empathy Meanwhile, a handful of
were staying in govern- forcing them to sleep out- While officials said it was from the federal govern- people slept in their cars, in
ment shelters in the island's side. too early to estimate the ment." chairs or on the ground as
southwest region as U.S. Among them was 80-year- total damage caused by He said officials believe the cots ran out.
President Donald Trump old Lupita Martínez, who sat the string of quakes that homes of 700 families in his "Now I'm afraid of the
declared an emergency in the dusty parking lot with began the night of Dec. municipality are close to house," said 49-year-old
and Puerto Rico Gov. Wan- her 96-year-old husband by 28, they said hundreds of collapsing. Lourdes Guilbe as she
da Vázquez activated the her side. He was sleeping homes and businesses in Tuesday's quake was the wiped away tears and
National Guard. in a makeshift bed, a dark the southwest region were strongest to hit Puerto Rico confided that she felt over-
"The magnitude of this blue coat covering him. damaged or destroyed. since October 1918, when whelmed caring for the
event is so serious that the "There's no power. There's Just in Guánica, a town a magnitude 7.3 quake nearly dozen relatives gath-
state government and the no water. There is nothing. of roughly 15,000 people, struck near the island's ered around her, including
municipal governments of This is horrible," Martínez nearly 150 homes were af- northwest coast, unleash- her more than 90-year-old
Puerto Rico do not have said. fected by the quake, along ing a tsunami and killing grandfather, who sat in a
the capacity to respond The couple was alone, la- with three schools, includ- 116 people. wheelchair wearing green
effectively," she said as she menting that their care- ing one three-story struc- More than 950 quakes and pajamas and socks.
praised Trump's decision. taker had disappeared ture whose first two floors aftershocks have been Guilbe said her home is
The hardest hit municipality and was not answering were completely flattened. recorded in the area of cracked and her daugh-
was the southwest coastal their calls. Like many Puer- In Guánica itself, "We are Tuesday night's event since ter's home collapsed, so
town of Guánica. More to Ricans affected by the confronting a crisis worse Dec. 31, though most were they weren't sure where
than 200 people had taken quake, they had children than Hurricane Maria," said too weak to be felt, ac- they would live in upcom-
shelter in a gymnasium af- in the U.S. mainland who Mayor Santos Seda, refer- cording to U.S. Geologic ing days.q

After deadly shootings, report says Panama prisons deficient

PANAMA CITY (AP) — A re- at La Joyita lockup on the the cellblock where the vi- gether with Government around in the prison is a
port on prison security high- outskirts of the capital to olence broke out, authori- Minister Carlos Romero. problem of control and su-
lighted severe deficien- 13 with 14 wounded, down ties found two holes about Such conditions "are inade- pervision," Mejía said, not-
cies and "permissiveness" from 15 previously said to 2 yards (2 meters) deep quate for penitentiary use," ing that that has led Cortizo
in Panama's penitentiary have died. Officials did not with concrete covers that Mirones said. to propose a bill on creat-
system a month after the explain the change. had been used to hide the "We found a penitentiary ing a prison security service.
country's deadliest out- The violence reflected a rifles. system that is degraded, "There is no doubt that the
break of prison violence years-old problem of arms, La Joyita, set on a former permissive, with very few penitentiary system, which
and called for urgent cor- drugs, cellphones, knives military base, does not controls," Romero said. is an old and recurring
rective measures. and other contraband be- have a wall around it nor Security analyst Severino problem, was neglected,"
The report commissioned ing smuggled into La Joyita security cameras, the met- Mejía of the University of Mejía added. "This is not a
by President Laurentino and other prisons, but most al perimeter fences are Panama's Institute of Crimi- case unique to Panama —
Cortizo and issued late attention-grabbing was the "deteriorated" and some nology agreed that prison in most countries of Latin
Tuesday also lowered the use of multiple assault rifles. guard towers have fallen security is deficient. America, the prisons are
death toll from the Dec. 17 Public Security Ministry Ro- down, said Mirones, who "The matter of weapons centers for human dump-
shootings between inmates lando Mirones said that in delivered the report to- entering and all that moves ing grounds."q