Long Island doctor awakens to earthquake while visiting Puerto Rico
Dr. Nicolás Hernández, who works at Plainview Hospital but was visiting Puerto Rico earlier this week when it was hit by earthquakes, holds photos from the island Thursday. Credit: Howard Schnapp
Dr. Nicolás Hernández was sound asleep at 4:30 Tuesday morning in Puerto Rico when his wife woke him up.
Their bed — and the island — were shaking.
"She just kept saying, ‘It’s trembling! It’s trembling! Oh, my God! It’s trembling! Please stop!’" Hernández, 39, of Westbury, a physician at Northwell Health's Plainview Hospital, recalled Thursday in an interview after returning from a weeklong trip to Puerto Rico to visit family.
The couple were feeling the effects of a powerful 6.4 magnitude earthquake that crushed an elderly man, injured at least eight others, sent thousands fleeing their homes and caused buildings to fall.
Several charities and nonprofits are mobilizing aid to be sent from Long Island to the island.
One of the groups is Latina Moms of Long Island, which asked for donations of first-aid kits, flashlights, batteries, ropes, portable cots, tents, blankets, water, waterproof backpacks, solar lamps, blood-pressure medicine and insulin, according to a news release from founder Dorothy Santana.
“Community leaders across Long Island are joining forces to collect necessities to support people and children who have been displaced from their homes or who need many survival supplies,” her release said.
The supplies can be dropped off at Suffolk County Legis. Samuel Gonzalez’s office at 55 Second Ave. in Brentwood on Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
“These are all our brothers and sisters — whether we know each other or not,” Gonzalez, who was born in Brooklyn but raised in Puerto Rico, said in a phone interview. He said his mom and sister are there and have no electricity or water.
Even supermarket shopping is difficult, he said, because some people are “breaking into the supermarkets — I hate to say that. Some people capitalize on misfortune.”
The earthquake is particularly difficult for the island, he said, because it’s still recovering from the effects of 2017’s Hurricane Maria.
“Puerto Rico can’t cut a break,” he said.
Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.
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