Puerto Rico Earthquakes 2019 - 2020
Puerto Rico has 13
active airports and four closed airports. By far, the most active is
Luis Munoz Marin International Airport (SJU) near San Juan: it handles
more than four million passengers per year and acts as a hub for
smaller airlines connecting to other islands. SJU was significantly
damaged by Hurricane Maria and it is virtually impossible to replace.
More ruggedization of terminals, plane storage areas and electrical
systems should be attended to. Runways and access roads are especially
vulnerable during earthquakes so repair and paving machinery needs to
be ready to go. Similar coverage for airports such as Rafael Hernandez
International (BQN) near Aquadilla and Mercedita International (PSE)
near Ponce should be considered as well. Airports are usually the
primary access point for emergency supplies and rescue teams -
especially when the target area is an island like Puerto Rico. There
is usually also quite a crush of tourists trying to get home away from
chaos as quickly as possible.
As important as airports are, bulk materials have to arrive by sea. One problem in Haiti in 2010 was that the only container crane (see below) was damaged.
In a manner similar to airports, the access roads for trucks and truckdrivers are critical. I am unable to locate current cargo statistics for Puerto Rico - the data on World Ports, for example, is from 2015. At that time, there were 1.6 million TEUs shipped through the Port of San Juan. In terms of dollars the imports and exports in 2015 (millions of dollars) looked like
Recommendations - Airports and
seaportsAs important as airports are, bulk materials have to arrive by sea. One problem in Haiti in 2010 was that the only container crane (see below) was damaged.
In a manner similar to airports, the access roads for trucks and truckdrivers are critical. I am unable to locate current cargo statistics for Puerto Rico - the data on World Ports, for example, is from 2015. At that time, there were 1.6 million TEUs shipped through the Port of San Juan. In terms of dollars the imports and exports in 2015 (millions of dollars) looked like
| Port | Imports | Exports |
| Aguadilla | 16 | 92 |
| Fajardo | 109 | 75 |
| Guanica | 1 | 0 |
| Guayanilla | 1295 | 5 |
| Jobos Bay | 123 | 0 |
| Mayaguez | 15 | 46 |
| Playa de Humacao | 624 | 25 |
| Ponce | 383 | 55 |
| San Juan | 5955 | 4727 |
| TOTAL | 8521 | 5025 |
| San Juan percentage | 70% | 94% |
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