Page 12 - ARUBA TODAY

A12 WORLD NEWS
Wednesday 29 January 2020
Puerto Rico opens only 20% of schools amid ongoing quakes

By DANICA COTO to proceed with the other
Associated Press schools. "The Department
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) of Education is going to
— Puerto Rico opened only take the time it needs and
20% of its public schools on will take all necessary ac-
Tuesday following a strong tions so that parents ... feel
earthquake that delayed satisfied," he told reporters
the start of classes by nearly on Monday.
three weeks as fears linger Gov. Wanda Vazquez said
over the safety of students. Tuesday that her admin-
Only 177 schools were certi- istration is still trying to find
fied to open after engineers appropriate options for
inspected them for dam- the roughly 28,000 students
age caused by the mag- who have been unable to
nitude-6.4 earthquake that return to schools.
killed one person and dam- "It's not that easy," she said,
aged hundreds of homes adding that holding class-
on Jan. 7. But the inspec- es outdoors under tarps
tions were not to determine poses problems including
whether a school could how bathrooms, meals and
withstand another strong In this Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2020 file photo, people whose homes are unsafe to enter after the transportation will be han-
earthquake or had struc- previous day's magnitude 6.4 earthquake line up for lunch in an outdoor area of the Bernardino dled. She said hotels and
tural shortcomings such as Cordero Bernard High School, which is being used as a shelter despite no electricity in Ponce, convention centers in the
short columns that make it Puerto Rico. area are being considered.
vulnerable to collapse, fur- Associated Press Meanwhile, Elba Aponte,
ther worrying parents. to use the main entrance following any quake of 3.0 Overall, experts say that president of Puerto Rico's
"Of course I am afraid," in an evacuation because magnitude or higher, ac- some 500 public schools in Association of Teachers,
said 38-year-old Marién it leads to an area filled cording to Puerto Rico's Puerto Rico were built be- told the AP that she has
Santos, who attended an with gas lines. The problem Infrastructure Financing Au- fore 1987 and don't meet received complaints and
open house on Monday at is that the other exits are thority. new construction codes. pictures from parents and
her son's Ramón Vilá Mayo too narrow to handle the Since the 6.4 quake, there A plan to retrofit all schools school employees of at
high school in the suburb of school's 450 students, she have been several strong that need it, an estimated least 10 schools that have
Río Piedras where officials told The Associated Press. aftershocks, including a 756 buildings, would cost reopened but that they
gave her a copy of the in- "It's not ideal," she said. 5.9 magnitude one that hit up to $2.5 billion, officials feel are still unsafe.
spection report and evac- Overall, engineers have in- on Jan. 11 and a 5.0 that have said, noting those are Most of the pictures are
uation plans. spected 561 of the island's struck on Saturday. The big- preliminary figures. of cracks in the walls and
Her concerns were echoed 856 public schools, finding gest quake flattened the Education Secretary Eligio roofs of those schools, she
by the director of the at least 50 too unsafe to re- top two floors of a three- Hernández noted that an- said.
school, Elisa Delgado. While open, leaving some 240,000 story school in the southern other 51 schools are sched- "Their concerns are quite
she believes engineers did students out of school for coastal city of Guánica on uled to start classes on valid," Aponte said, adding
a thorough inspection of now. Ongoing tremors also Jan. 7, two days before Feb. 3 and that his depart- that she would share them
the school, built in the early are forcing crews to auto- classes were scheduled to ment is reviewing recom- with the island's education
1900s, they warned her not matically re-inspect schools start. mendations on how best secretary. q

Magnitude 7.7 earthquake hits between Cuba and Jamaica

By MICHAEL WEISSENSTEIN meters (6 miles) beneath Bay, Cuba, on the south- immediate reports of Claude Diedrick, 71, who
Associated Press the surface. eastern coast of the is- deaths, injuries or more se- owns a fencing business in
HAVANA (AP) — A power- The quake could be felt land. vere damage, said Kevin Montego Bay, said he was
ful magnitude 7.7 earth- strongly in Santiago, the There were no immediate Morales, editor-in-chief sitting in his vehicle read-
quake struck in the Ca- largest city in eastern reports of injuries or dam- of the Cayman Compass ing when the earth began
ribbean Sea between Ja- Cuba, said Belkis Guerre- ages, said J. Overton, a newspaper. to sway.
maica and eastern Cuba ro, who works in a Catho- spokesman for the instal- The islands see so few “It felt to me like i was on
on Tuesday, shaking a lic cultural center in the lation, which has a total earthquakes that news- a bridge and like there
vast area from Mexico to center of Santiago population of about 6,000 room staff were puzzled were two or three heavy
Florida and beyond, but “We were all sitting and people. when it hit, he said. trucks and the bridge was
there were no immediate we felt the chairs move,” Several South Florida “’It was just like a big rocking but there were no
reports of casualties or she said. “We heard the buildings were being dump truck was rolling trucks,” he said.
heavy damage. noise of everything mov- evacuated as a preca- past,”’ Morales said. “Then He said he had seen no
The quake was centered ing around.” tion, according to city of it continued and got more damage around his home
139 kilometers (86 miles) She said there was no ap- Miami and Miami-Dade intense.” in northern Jamaica.
northwest of Montego parent damage in the County officials. No inju- Dr. Stenette Davis, a psy- The Pacific Tsunami Warn-
Bay, Jamaica, and 140 heart of the colonial city. ries or road closures have chiatrist at a Cayman Is- ing Center said the quake
kilometers (87 miles) west- “It felt very strong but it been reported. lands hospital, said she could generate waves 1
southwest of Niquero, doesn’t look like anything The quake also hit the had seen manhole covers to 3 feet above normal in
Cuba, according to the happened,’’ she told The Cayman Islands, leaving blown off by the force of Cuba, Jamaica, the Cay-
U.S. Geological Survey. It Associated Press. cracked roads and what the quake, and sewage man Islands, Honduras,
hit at 2:10 p.m. (1910 GMT) It was also felt a little fur- appeared to be sew- exploding into the street, Mexico and Belize.
and the epicenter was a ther east at the U.S. Navy age spilling from cracked but no more serious dam- The USGS initially reported
relatively shallow 10 kilo- base at Guantanamo mains. There were no age. the magnitude at 7.3.q