On Monday, a 5.79 earthquake rattled Puerto Rico’s southern region, collapsing one of its iconic natural wonders.
When residents of Guayanilla, a town on the southern coast, awoke from the tremble at 6:32 a.m., some noticed that their beloved Punta Ventana, or Window Point, had crumpled.
“This is really sad,” Denniza Colon told the Miami Herald of the loss of the natural attraction. “It was one of the biggest tourism draws of Guayanilla.”
Punta Ventana is one of multiple natural window-like arches that were carved out by sea water hitting against rocky outcrops throughout eons. While the natural wonder wasn’t easy to access, it was a tourist appeal for the small municipality.
On Monday, Glidden Lopez, the spokesman for Guayanilla, announced the collapse of Playa Ventana on Facebook.
“Playa Ventana has collapsed. Today our icon is nothing but a memory,” he wrote, just days after writing that the arch was damaged from previous tremors.
Since December 28, 2019, Puerto Rico has been hit with a series of earthquakes, concentrating mostly on the archipelago’s southern region.
The shocks have knocked homes off their foundations, destroyed vehicles, caused rockslides and took out power in some areas.
There have currently been no reports of casualties tied to the earthquakes.