Puerto Rico Governor Wanda Vazquez declared a state of emergency and activated the National Guard on Tuesday following a two-day series of earthquakes that have hit the Carribean island nation, El Nuevo Dia newspaper reported.
The governor has turned to Twitter to call on people to remain calm.
"We want everyone to be safe. That is why all work in the public sectors has been suspended today, so that you can be with your family, implementing your emergency plans," she tweeted.
Queremos que todos estén seguros. Es por esto que se suspenden los trabajos en el sector público por el día de hoy, para que puedan estar con sus familia, implantando sus planes de emergencia. (1/2)
— Wanda Vázquez Garced (@wandavazquezg) 7 января 2020 г.
So far, the quakes have resulted in one person being killed and the power outage that has affected much of the island.
The day before, a 5.8 magnitude earthquake occurred off the southern coast of Puerto Rico with the epicentre being located 21 kilometres (13 miles) south of the municipality of Guayanilla, at the depth of 12.9 kilometres.