Earthquakes and Hurricanes: What will happen next in Puerto Rico?

[Josue Vargas]

A series of earthquakes, largest one so far happened early morning on Jan 7th 2020, magnitude 6.6M in the Richter scale in Puerto Rico just 8 miles from the south coast.  Some areas in the south have suffered the worst impact and collapsed structures (houses, schools, churches), along with other infrastructure damage such as bridges, buildings, streets, etc. 

I have properties in PR, and I'm somewhat familiar with the economy, and I wander how this will impact the economy and the REI in Puerto Rico moving forward. We had a pretty bad hit in 2017 with Hurricane Maria, and the infrastructure have been decaying even before the hurricane. No with this series of earthquakes on top of the fragile infrastructure is something that really worries me.

What is next for Puerto Rico? What are the ramifications of REI in the beautiful Island but yet devastated by natural events?

[Account Closed]

Originally posted by @Josue Vargas:

@Mike M.

The majority of the properties that suffered extensive damaged were built between 1950's to 1990's.

Facts:

1. PR didn't have an International construction code for seismic standards until 1998 when FEMA required this due to hurricane George's in 1998, enforcing their latest 1995 ASCE code. After that, structures have been build adhering the latest standards of such codes (IBC, ASCE, ACI, etc.)

2. Your comparison of political issues (corruption) vs what is needed to be done to prevent structures falling from natural disasters have little to do with each other. Take for example New Orleans and hurricane Katrina. Did New Orleans political issues ignore the need of better infrastructure?

3. You can't compare the infrastructure of big cities with small cities, not to mention the topography (it has to do with planning). When there is a handful of engineers to approve permits in small cities, there are a battalion of engineers to approve permits in big cities. No excuse, but like I said codes Island wise were enforced in 1998.

1. Right. FEMA had to step in (Federal Government) because the locals we too busy draining the treasury to do anything about putting place what the West Coast has for earthquake construction.

I bounced through a 6.4 in Seattle and a 6.6 in Seattle. I know what an earthquake can do. They did very little damage in Seattle (it was a fun ride and very dramatic, but little damage) because building codes were retroactively enforced. PR could do the same.

 2. When I lived in New Orleans in 1973 it was said that the money that should have been used to update the levies and the pumps was spent on "other" things. They did nothing until Katrina 42 years later and in all those years they never properly updated or maintained the pump houses or the levies. And look at the disaster it created. It was a ticking time bomb that went off. I was there over Christmas and the streets are still 3rd world country. They put up signs (sometimes) that a pot hole exists and those signs have been there for years. Look up Huey P. Long and read the bios of the mayors of New Orleans. You really need to do better research. Ever hear of Ray Nagin and what he did? Gracious me! 

3. If Big cities have more engineers it's because they need more. You have to look at police staffing, firemen, teachers, SAT scores and on and on. And I can give song and verse about the differences spent per child for public schools in liberal cities and moderate cities and the differences in performance. More money doesn't equate to better results. More money equates to more bloat.

LA, Baltimore, Detroit, New York, San Francisco, Seattle, St. Louis, etc (where do I stop) all have animosity toward the police by their respective city councils. That is no way to provide for the safety of investors and their tenants.