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Jan 8, 2009 06:47 PM | 11
Residents of San Jose, Costa Rica, took to the streets today just after lunch as an earthquake registering 6.1 on the Richter scale shook the capital city. Windows broke, walls cracked and landslides were triggered in the countryside, but so far no casualties have been reported.
The epicenter of the quake at 1:21 P.M. local time was just 20 miles (35 kilometers) northwest of the capital, the U.S. Geological Survey reports, and originated 8.6 miles (14 kilometers) beneath Earth's surface. Aftershocks have been reported throughout the afternoon.
Costa Rica is located in the middle of Central America and makes up part of the "Ring of Fire" circling the Pacific Ocean; it is home to several active volcanoes, including Poas, which erupted just last year and Arenal, which erupted in 2007. A similar strength quake in 1910 killed at least 700 people in the city of Cartago; more recently a temblor measuring 6.4 shook the capital in November 2004, killing eight.
For more on such earthquakes and the surprising places they occur, see ScientificAmerican.com's Guide to Earthquakes.
Update (1/9/08): One of the commenters to this blog is in Costa Rica and posted his firsthand account here. According to reports today, three people have died and we've posted a video from Reuters below.
Credit: USGS
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san jose,
temblor,
costa rica,
earthquake
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11 Comments
Add Commentlisten to this: a long time ago someone from church had a vision that there was going to be an earthquake in her country,so she goes to costa rica while my mom keeps in touch with her since their bffs.just a little while ago,she gets another call from her friend that if shes talked to her ,then theres a alert on the news that an earthquake in san jose where she living ... i thought what a coincidence
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thislisten to this: a long time ago someone from church had a vision that there was going to be an earthquake in her country,so she goes to costa rica while my mom keeps in touch with her since their bffs.just a little while ago,she gets another call from her friend that if shes talked to her ,then theres a alert on the news that an earthquake in san jose where she living ... i thought what a coincidence
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI felt this quake today. Here is a copy/paste about my experience that I posted in a forum I am a member of.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI had gone to Cartago in my quest to find a toaster/convection oven. I was crouched down looking at one on the ground level shelf (getting down is easy, getting back up is another story) when all of a sudden I felt, eum, shaky, wobbly, the soles of my feet were vibrating, and I felt like I was going to fall over. Strange, I had felt ok till now. Was I fainting? I looked up. The sales promotion banners hanging from the ceiling were moving. Oh god, my eyes don't work either!! Everything is spinning.. wait, wait, not spinning, swaying. I stood up.
Other people in the store were looking around too, and there was a buzz of conversation. Wow, we had had an earthquake! Now I should mention earthquakes in Costa Rica are quite common, we have six active volcanoes. However, for the most part they are usually only 3. something on the Richter Scale. I've noticed too, that the Costa Ricans pride themselves on feeling said earthquakes, as they are quite difficult to note. I've only felt three since I've been here, out of hundreds.
This one was a doozy though, turns out it was 6.2 at the epicentre, and Cartago was only 42k (26 miles) away. Every store I went into, people were talking about it. As I waited for the light to turn green to cross the road, a stranger turned to me and asked me if I had felt it (hell, yea!), and commented on how strong it was. On the bus home, instead of the usual music, a call-in show was on the radio, with people phoning in with their story, or to reassure loved ones they were safe. The government announced a red alert for the entire Central Valley (which I live in) Everybody was a-buzz about the 'tremor grande'.
Sadly, 2 young girls were killed under a landslide, and an elderly gentleman died of a heart-attack. However, the death toll could have been much higher.
So this is the big news in Costa Rica today, the 6.2 tremor in a land where they rarely go over 4.
Click on the headline under photograph for whole story from The Tico Times (Costa Rica's only English newspaper)
The html link didn't show up, if you are interested, google Tico Times.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSorry, the html link doesn't show here. If interested, google Tico Times.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThank you for this first-person account. I will be adding an update to the blog noting this. And keep safe.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThank you very much.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWow.. My wife and I just got back from our Honeymoon and stayed in Vera Blanca at the LaPaz Waterfall Gardens. We spent several hours at the Poas Volcano and loved the area. We have told everyone we would be back and recommended the location to everyone we talk to. This is just very sad, not only for those that have lost their loved ones but also for the economy and those that have worked so hard to make Costa Rica what it is today.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisi live in costa rica in san jose... im heartbroken at all the damages caused by this earthquake, cant help but shed a tear everytime I watch the news. Just seeing whole roads that desapeared, the La Paz waterfall once blue now brown completely destroyed , the desperation of people near the area and the fact that there are still aftershocks being felt is just unbearable. Luckly everyone in the country is helping, donating food and clothes... hopefully things will get better with time :(
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisohh and just to make a correction.. the earthquake was 6.2... and right now there are about 20 persons confrimed dead...
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisi live in costa rica in san jose... im heartbroken at all the damages caused by this earthquake, cant help but shed a tear everytime I watch the news. Just seeing whole roads that desapeared, the La Paz waterfall once blue now brown completely destroyed , the desperation of people near the area and the fact that there are still aftershocks being felt is just unbearable. Luckly everyone in the country is helping, donating food and clothes... hopefully things will get better with time :(
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this