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Puerto Ricans Settle in Quake Shelters, Refuse to Go Home

Associated Press

   GUAYANILLA, PUERTO RICO - A new community has popped up in this
   earthquake-damaged town in southwest Puerto Rico: it houses 300 people,
   a dozen police officers and one macaw.
   Cries of "Uno!" filled the air early Friday morning as children on cots
   played card games while men with a pillow under their arm and sleep in
   their eyes went to work. Many families in this dusty baseball park
   converted into a makeshift outdoor shelter live nearby. But they can't
   or won't return home because their walls are cracked, their houses have
   collapsed or they've been indefinitely evacuated after a 6.4-magnitude
   earthquake that prompted U.S. President Donald Trump to declare an
   emergency in the U.S. territory.
   Hundreds of thousands of Puerto Ricans are still without power and
   water, and thousands are staying in shelters and sleeping on sidewalks
   since Tuesday's earthquake. The tremor 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 unusual seismic activity and strong aftershocks have delayed
   recovery efforts, caused a spike in people staying in government
   shelters like the one in Guayanilla and unleashed panic among thousands
   of Puerto Ricans.
   "I've reached the point where I'm getting on my knees in the street to
   pray, and I'm even listening to Christian music," said Irma Vega, a
   45-year-old caretaker for the elderly. "It's been 20 years since I've
   worshipped."
   Another aftershock of 4.36-magnitude hit overnight, causing people in
   the shelter to yell It's shaking! It's shaking!''as some sat upright in
   their cots.
   City officials said a woman, identified as Noelia Artruz, died from a
   heart attack following the aftershock. They said earlier information
   that her home had collapsed was incorrect.
   Government officials are trying to calm and distract people by turning
   some shelters into a makeshift community. At the baseball park in
   Guayanilla late Thursday night, the town's largest one volunteers
   played the movie "Dinosaur," for a dozen small children who sat
   enraptured and cross-legged as generators roared in the background and
   the elderly nestled under blankets in the chilly air and tried to
   sleep.
   Nearby, older children kicked up dust as they chased each other on
   bicycles, prompting volunteers to yell, "Watch out!"
   People still trickled into the baseball field close to midnight,
   including 74-year-old Lydia Ramos. She dragged a small suitcase with
   her right hand and carried her 10-year-old Chihuahua, "Princess," in
   her left as the dog snuggled into a pink blanket.
   "Find me a little cot," she told volunteers as she recounted the recent
   nights at home. "My home is shaking from side to side... I'm even
   scared to take a shower... I'm so ready to leave."
   Ramos spent the night on an army green cot and left early Friday
   morning for New York to temporarily stay with her son. But for those
   who cannot afford to fly to the U.S. mainland, the future is uncertain.
   "I don't know what we're supposed to do," said 27-year-old Eddie
   Caraballo as he walked around with a small speaker playing reggaeton to
   cheer himself up. "They evacuated all of us. All of us."
   Among the 300 people staying in Guayanilla's largest shelter was its
   mayor, Nelson Torres. He said two bridges are cracked and five of the
   town's seven schools that serve some 2,500 students are seriously
   damaged, noting that the island's education department has not yet
   advised him on what to do with those schoolchildren. In addition, he
   said 51 homes collapsed and another 19 are too dangerous to live in,
   and hundreds of other families whose homes were not damaged are still
   living in shelters regardless.
   "We have a problem here," he said. "People don't want to return home."
   As a full moon rose over Puerto Rico overnight, the smell of mosquito
   repellent filled the air and the shelter in Guayanilla grew quiet
   except for the occasional crunch of footsteps on the blue tarps
   covering parts of the baseball field.
   It's the same type of tarp that Carmen Orengo, a 67-year-old shelter
   refugee, had on her home for a year after Hurricane Maria hit Puerto
   Rico in September 2017 as a Category 4 storm, killing an estimated
   2,975 people in the aftermath and causing more than an estimated $100
   billion in damage.
   "I lost everything in the hurricane," she said as she paused and
   sighed: "Only to go through the same thing again."