On October 11, 1918, an 7.5 magnitude earthquake shook the homes of residents in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico. Within minutes, the town was inundated by a large Tsunami. Destruction of buildings and homes in Mayaguez and surrounding towns was widespread. The hospital, theater, municipal buildings, and schools were reduced to rubble and the Agricultural College caught fire. Hundreds died as a result of this earthquake.
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Congressman Schuyler Otis Bland visited Puerto Rico in 1919. Photographs found in the Schuyler Otis Bland Papers, 1862-1950, and housed at the Special Collections Research Center in Swem Library serve as important documentation of the destruction caused by these natural disasters.