The Structural Extreme Events Reconnaissance (StEER) Network has released its Preliminary Virtual Reconnaissance Report (PVRR) summarizing its findings on the impacts of the earthquakes in Puerto Rico. The report was prepared by StEER’s Virtual Assessment Structural Team (VAST) and relies upon publicly available news reports, social media, and other resources. The PVRR can be accessed at https://aub.ie/steer_PR_EQ_Jan2020. The PVRR serves as the precursor to the on-site investigations that will be conducted by the StEER Field Assessment Structural Teams (FAST) and other organizations. Summary of report is as follows:

A series of seismic events occurred in the southwestern region of Puerto Rico with the first significant event occurring on January 6th, 2020 at 6:32 am local time (10:32 UTC) registering a magnitude Mw5.8. The second event occurred on January 7th, 2020 at 4:24 am local time (8:24 UTC) with a magnitude Mw6.4, followed by a third event on January 7th, 2020 at 7:18 am local time (11:18 UTC) registering a magnitude Mw5.8. These three earthquakes caused structural collapses and significant damage to civil infrastructure in communities near the epicenter of Guayanilla, Puerto Rico. In addition, damage to lifelines resulted in loss of power and running water across the island of Puerto Rico.

The purpose of this Preliminary Virtual Reconnaissance Report (PVRR) is to provide an overview of the hazard characteristics and to summarize preliminary reports of damage to buildings, bridges, roads and other infrastructure.

The full citation in DesignSafe is as follows:

Miranda, Eduardo; Acosta Vera, Andres; Aponte, Luis; Archbold, Jorge; Cortes, Maria; Du, Ao; Gunay, Selim; Hassan, Wael; Heresi, Pablo; Lamela, Ana; Messina, Armando; Miranda, Sebastian; Padgett, Jamie; Poulos, Alan; Scagliotti, Giulia; Tsai, Alicia; Kijewski-Correa, Tracy; Robertson, Ian; Mosalam, Khalid; Prevatt, David; Roueche, David (2020) “StEER - 07 Jan. 2020 Puerto Rico Mw6.4 Earthquake: Preliminary Virtual Reconnaissance Report (PVRR).” DesignSafe-CI. https://doi.org/10.17603/ds2-xfhz-fz88.