Puerto Rico government asks for help

Powerful aftershocks complicated the recovery effort in Puerto Rico after a 6.4 magnitude earthquake on Tuesday killed one person, injured nine others, and severely damaged infrastructure on the southwestern coast. More than 40 earthquakes measuring 3.0 magnitude or higher have shaken the island since Tuesday. Following a request from Puerto Rican Gov. Wanda Vázquez, President Donald Trump declared an emergency in the U.S. territory, opening the door to Federal Emergency Management Agency funds to help with recovery.

How bad are things? More than 2,000 people are in shelters, nearly 1 million are without power, and hundreds of thousands don’t have water. Transportation officials on Thursday closed a portion of Puerto Rico’s busiest highways due to structural damage, and education officials said 24 schools were affected.

Dig deeper: Read Harvest Prude’s report in The Stew about the political debate over Hurricane Maria recovery funds for Puerto Rico. Congress just approved more funding in the recently passed budget bills. The island is still waiting on billions of federal dollars more than two years after the storm.