Puerto Rico Declares State of Emergency After Earthquake Leaves Many Homeless & Without Electricity

While Donald Trump was busy diverting attention away from his pending impeachment trial (which Republicans are doing everything in their power to rig in his favor) by , other parts of the world have been suffering man made and natural disasters including Puerto Rico where a 5.8 and 6.4 magnitude earthquake hit the island back-to-back earlier this week.

Still recovering from the devastation that Hurricane Maria wreaked on the Caribbean island two years ago, last Tuesday’s earthquake proved to be the worst of the two earthquakes as it left a still struggling Puerto Rico without electricity and water for much of it’s people. Things have once again gotten so dire that Raw Story is reporting Puerto Rican Governor Wanda Vasquez has declared a state of emergency as she seeks help from the National Guard.

According to reports, Puerto Rico had been experiencing a series of small earthquakes off the coast of the island since December 28th, but it wasn’t until January 7 that the big one hit at 4:24am. Luckily for everyone a tsunami didn’t follow the quake, but the damage was substantial and one person died due to the natural disaster.

The island’s electricity authority said the quake had forced an automatic shutdown of the power grid, already severely damaged by Hurricane Maria more than two years ago.

The worst damage appeared to be in towns on the southwest coast, including Ponce, Guayanilla and Guanica.

Two power plants in Guayanilla sustained major damage, the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority said. The city could be without power for two weeks, its mayor Nelson Torres Yordan said.

Though Donald Trump approved the emergency declaration on Tuesday (talk about looking for brownie points in an election year), Puerto Rico is still waiting on the $18 billion in federal funds that was designated for the hurricane ravaged island two years ago. Instead he gave out rolls of paper towels like he was at a free throw line and for his lack of action.

That being said, pray for Puerto Rico, y’all.