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A12 WORLD NEWS
Thursday 16 January 2020

Alberto Perez, a 77-year-old retired man, leaves his home in
the Sevillano neighborhood with an empty cooking gas tank
as he departs for a shop where he will replace it with a full Alena L. Leeds, a scientist from the United States Geological Survey, operates earthquake
one in Havana, Cuba, Tuesday, Jan 14, 2020. monitoring and recording equipment amid aftershocks across the island's southern coast where
Associated Press recent quakes have toppled homes and schools in Ponce, Puerto Rico, Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2020.
Associated Press
Cuba warns citizens Experts seek answers behind

to prepare for constant quakes in Puerto Rico

cooking-gas shortages

By DANICA COTO in damage, toppled part university, which also hous-
By MICHAEL WEISSENSTEIN and ANDREA RODRIGUEZ Associated Press of a famed rock formation es the island's Seismic Net-
Associated Press PONCE, Puerto Rico (AP) landmark and damaged work.
HAVANA (AP) — The Cuban government is warning — Seismologists in south- or destroyed more than 550 Overall, Puerto Rico is lo-
citizens to prepare for shortages of cooking gas due ern Puerto Rico gingerly homes. cated in a very seismically
to Trump administration sanctions on the island. walked around a patch of The seismic activity that active area, with the North
State media announced Tuesday morning that cylin- dirt that marks the location experts say is unusual but America and Caribbean
ders of liquid petroleum gas would be scarce for Cu- of recently buried sensors not unexpected has un- tectonic plates converging
bans who buy state-subsidized gas at about 30 cents they hope will reveal an- leashed scientific debate at a rate of about 2 centi-
per cylinder as well as for customers who buy gas at swers behind the constant about what's causing it meters a year, said Gavin
market prices more than 10 times higher. and unusual shaking in the and drawn international at- Hayes, a USGS research
Many homes in Cuba depend on bottled gas be- region that has terrified resi- tention to the area, where geophysicist.
cause they are not connected to municipal gas lines. dents. more than 4,000 people To the north part of the is-
Electric stoves and hotplates are relatively rare and Alena Leeds with the U.S. have sought shelter as they land, the North America
expensive to use due to high electricity prices. Geological Survey stopped wonder when the ground plate is moving past and
“I’ll have to adapt, use an electric cooking pot and in front of the sensors on will stop trembling. sinking below Puerto Rico,
hope that things get better,” said Angela Leon, a Tuesday afternoon and "I don't plan on stepping while in the southern re-
60-year-old housewife. “It’s a great injustice because scrutinized the information foot in the house for any gion, the Caribbean plate
it’s already hard to put food on the table. I hope the that popped up on the reason until this stops," said is sinking into the mantel
U.S. government is aware that what they’re doing to screen in front of her. Adrián Santos, a 45-year- underneath the island.
us is unjustified.” "Here comes one! There's old mechanic who has "Essentially, the island is
The government said in an announcement on state an aftershock," she said as been living in a tent in the being squeezed between
media that a Trump administration sanction an- the software showed red, southern coastal city of these two tectonic plates,"
nounced in November against Cuban state energy blue and green lines that Ponce for nearly a week he said.
company Corporación Panamericana had forced squiggled up and down. with nine other relatives. In the last 50 years, 10 earth-
the cancellation of planned purchases of liquid pe- More than 1,280 earth- "The shaking is unbearable." quakes of magnitude 4
troleum gas. quakes have hit Puerto Ri- Scientists say they don't and higher have occurred
“Current inventories don’t cover consumption, affect- co's southern region since yet know much about the within 50 kilometers of the
ing the sale of subsidized and free-market LPG, which Dec. 28, more than two faults causing the quakes, recent 6.4 magnitude epi-
can only be guaranteed for locations that provide dozen of them magnitude although some experts be- center prior to Dec. 28, said
basic services to the population,” the announcement 4.5 or greater, according to lieve at least three faults Lindsay Davis, with USGS's
read. “The people should adopt measures to save gas the USGS. are involved, including the earthquake disaster assis-
and use it efficiently.” Among them was a 6.4 Punta Montalva one in tance team manager.
The Trump administration has been regularly tighten- magnitude quake that hit southwest Puerto Rico that She said the rate of af-
ing the trade embargo on Cuba with the stated aim of on Jan. 7, killing one per- students and professors at tershocks following the
pressuring the country to give up its close relationship son and injuring nine oth- the University of Puerto Rico 6.4 magnitude quake is
with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, whom the ers, and a 5.9 magnitude in Mayaguez discovered in higher than expected, but
U.S. wants out of office. aftershock that occurred the early 2000s. still within normal range.
The U.S. last week banned charter flights from the U.S. Saturday, causing further "There are a lot of differ- She also said Saturday's
to cities outside Havana, the latest pressure meant damage. ent opinions but not a lot 5.9 magnitude quake was
to cut off the flow of hard currency and energy to Government officials say of data," said Elizabeth within the range of what
Cuba.q the quakes have caused Vanacore, an associate was expected for the after-
a preliminary $110 million research professor at the shock sequence.q