Strong earthquake hits off Puerto Rico, causing minor damage

USPA News - A strong earthquake struck off the coast of the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico on early Monday morning, causing some minor damage but no casualties, seismologists and emergency officials said. No tsunami warnings were issued.

The 6.4-magnitude earthquake at 00:01 a.m. local time (0401 GMT) on Monday was centered about 57 kilometers (35 miles) north of the municipality of Hatillo on the territory`s northern coast. It struck about 36 kilometers (22.3 miles) deep, making it a shallow earthquake, according to the Puerto Rico Seismic Network. Tremors were felt across the island and as far away as Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic, and island countries to the east of Puerto Rico. The region`s emergency management agency, however, said there were no reports of casualties, but many people were awakened and a number of residents reported fallen objects, broken windows and cracks in houses. No tsunami watches or warnings were issued by neither the Puerto Rico Seismic Network nor the U.S. Tsunami Warning Center (NTWC). "There is no tsunami danger. Based on earthquake information and historic tsunami records, the earthquake was not sufficient to generate a tsunami," NTWC said in a bulletin. Monday`s earthquake was the largest earthquake to hit Puerto Rico in recent years.