Earthquake Strikes Near Puerto Rico, Shutting Power Plants

(Bloomberg) -- Puerto Rico declared a state of emergency early Tuesday after an earthquake shut down all of the island’s electricity, which the power authority later in the afternoon said was being restored in certain areas.

Power plants across the territory were taken offline, the electricity authority said in a tweet, in the wake of the earthquake. The island’s power authority said in a series of tweets after the noon hour that certain power substations were being brought online. The territory’s government said that 255 people have been displaced as a result of the tremors.

The U.S. administration is ready to assist in recovery, said Chad Wolf, Acting Secretary for the Department for Homeland Security, in a tweet.

The territory’s government along with the Fiscal Oversight Board approved a $130 million package to address the emergency, it said.

The earthquake, which measured magnitude 6.4, occurred at 8:24 UTC, the U.S. Geological Survey said on Tuesday. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said it was not expected to result in a tsunami and measured the earthquake at a magnitude of 6.6.

To contact the reporters on this story: Charles Capel in London at ccapel2@bloomberg.net;Katharina Rosskopf in Frankfurt at krosskopf@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Sunil Kesur at skesur@bloomberg.net, Nour Al Ali, Katharina Rosskopf

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