A magnitude 5.9 quake shook Puerto Rico on Saturday, causing millions of dollars of damage along the island's southern coast, where previous recent quakes have toppled homes and schools.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the 8:54 a.m. quake hit 13 kilometres southeast of Guanica at a shallow depth of 5 kilometres. It was followed by several aftershocks, including a magnitude 5.2 temblor less than two minutes later.Saturday's quake occurred four days after a 6.4 magnitude quake in the same area and amid a spate of more than 1,200 mostly small quakes over the past 15 days, all at shallow depths.
As a result of Saturday's quake, Puerto Rico's Electric Power Authority said outages were reported across much of southern Puerto Rico and crews were assessing possible damage at power plants. Officials said they also were going back to reassess all structures previously inspected, given the strength of Saturday's quake.
The quake, which initially had been calculated at magnitude 6.0, was the strongest shake since Tuesday's magnitude 6.4 quake -- the most potent to hit the island in a century. That temblor killed one person, injured nine others and damaged or destroyed hundreds of homes and several schools and businesses in the island's southwest region.
The ground in southwest Puerto Rico has been shaking since Dec. 28, with more than 1,280 earthquakes, of which more than 100 were felt and more than 70 were of magnitude 3.5 or greater.
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