HOUSTON HEIGHTS, Houston — Scientists say it is impossible to predict when earthquake tremors tearing up the island of Puerto Rico will stop.
The island was hit by a magnitude 6.0 quake Saturday morning.
It is the strongest since Tuesday’s magnitude 6.4 quake that caused tremendous damage and destruction across the island.
Tuesday’s earthquake was the strongest the Caribbean U.S. territory has seen in more than 100 years.
Across the Gulf, members of Houston’s Puerto Rican community are scrambling to raise funds to take to the victims.
Houston Puerto Rican restaurant owner Christopher Dilan knew he had to do something after he saw images of the aftermath last week.
“One hundred percent of all of the proceeds are going to go directly to the island, to families,” Dilan said. “We have somebody flying over there tomorrow morning at 10 and they are going to distribute food, clothing and water.”
Osteen Lopez and Houston Puerto Rican bakery owner Jefte Rodriguez will be flying to Puerto Rico with the funds on Monday morning.
“We don’t know if they’re going to be delivered because there’s some corruption down there,” Lopez said. “We want people to receive and feel relief and supported.”
Rodriguez and Lopez say the money made at Sunday’s Puerto Rican earthquake victims aid event in the Heights will be used to buy water and supplies for the victims once they arrive on the island tomorrow.
Devastating images from the ground present a clear picture of the situation.
Earthquake victims who’ve lost everything are now living without water, shelter, transportation and power.
“My friends are sleeping in the street,” Rodriguez said.
Lopez says the weather is making the recovery efforts more difficult.
“It’s been raining, also” Lopez said. “So, it’s very hard to get some shade and keep safe.”
Earthquake victim Evelyn Dembsky-Ortiz struggles to verbalize what happened to her last week.
She arrived in Houston on Friday from Puerto Rico after Tuesday’s earthquake destroyed her home.
She said everyone was sleeping when the “house started shaking from the ground” at about 4:30 a.m. on Tuesday.
With tear-filled eyes, Dembsky-Ortiz demonstrates with sounds and her hands the violent events that followed.
Houston’s Puerto Rican community has experienced explosive growth since Hurricane Maria devastated the island a few years ago.
Residents left the disaster-torn U.S. territory in droves; many of them never returned.
Thousands settled in Houston, which is now home to about 120,000 native Puerto Ricans, according to community leaders.
At Sunday’s charity fundraiser in the Heights, neighbors exchange updates on this latest natural disaster back home, while the sounds and smells of the Caribbean spread throughout the streets.
Bound by culture and tragedy, this diverse island family gathered Sunday to help; even though they're 2,000 miles away.