By Luis Valentin Ortiz
Puerto Rico's power grid crept back to service on Wednesday after it was shut down entirely as a safety measure on Tuesday amid a storm of earthquakes including the most powerful to strike the Caribbean island in 102 years.
The temblors including one of magnitude 6.4 killed at least one person and flattened homes across the southern coast, provoking a state of emergency on the island of 3 million people and the activation of the National Guard.
Vazquez ordered schools and other public offices closed while emergency responders searched crumpled buildings for possible victims and engineers inspected others for safety.
Some Puerto Ricans in the hard-hit south of the island moved beds outside on Tuesday night and slept outdoors, fearful their homes would crumble if another earthquake hit, Vazquez said.
Hundreds of quakes have touched the island, including 10 of magnitude 4 or greater, since Dec. 28, the U.S. Geological Survey said.
Around 750 people spent the night in shelters in southern towns hit hardest, the government reported.
Puerto Ricans are used to dealing with hurricanes but powerful quakes are rare.
"There's a lot of uncertainty, this is the first time this has happened to us," said Patricia Alonso, 48, who lost power and water at her home and headed to her mother's apartment building with her 13-year-old son as it had a generator.
The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) said on Tuesday that aid had been made available for earthquake response efforts.
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