Thread: Powerful quake hits Costa Rica, tsunami warning issued

Powerful quake hits Costa Rica, tsunami warning issued

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Wed Sep 5, 2012 12:08pm EDT

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (Reuters) - A powerful 7.6-magnitude earthquake rocked Costa Rica on Wednesday, rattling buildings, cutting power in areas of the capital and triggering a tsunami warning.

Residents of San Jose said phones went down, electricity poles rattled on the streets and water flowed out of pools during the quake, but the Red Cross said no casualties had been reported so far.

"It was terrible. I was on the third floor, I had never felt anything like it," said Stephanie Gonzalez, a 25-year-old masters student in the capital.

The quake's epicenter was in western Costa Rica about 87 miles from San Jose, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) said, and it was felt as far away as Managua, the capital of neighboring Nicaragua.

"People are very frightened and staying in their homes," said Eliecer Gonzalez, commercial director of a local newspaper in the Guanacaste region on Costa Rica's Pacific Coast. "We are very isolated and have no power."

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a warning for Pacific coastlines of Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Panama. It had earlier warned of tsunamis for as far afield as Mexico and Peru.

It was the biggest earthquake in Costa Rica since a 7.6 quake in 1991 left 47 dead. More recently, 40 people died in a 6.1 magnitude quake in January 2009.

Powerful quake hits Costa Rica, tsunami warning issued | Reuters

Costa Rica Power Restored After Magnitude 7.6 Earthquake Strikes

By Adam Williams and Nacha Cattan on September 05, 2012

Power was restored across much of Costa Rica after a magnitude 7.6 earthquake struck near the country’s Pacific coast, triggering tsunami warnings across Central America. One death was reported.

Government buildings in San Jose were evacuated and roads, bridges and homes in several parts of the country were damaged when the quake struck at 8:42 a.m., knocking out electricity and phone lines. A 50-year-old woman died from a heart attack during the quake, the Red Cross said. A tsunami warning for Costa Rica, Panama and Nicaragua was later canceled and power has largely been restored, television channel Teletica said.

“The first thing we want to do is transmit a message of calm,” President Laura Chinchilla said in a national address from San Jose about two hours after the quake hit.

The quake struck 140 kilometers (87 miles) west of San Jose, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. It hit a popular tourist and surfing region that is home to hotels owned by Four Seasons Holdings Inc. and Hilton Worldwide Inc. In downtown San Jose, windows rattled, electricity flickered on and off and car alarms rang out in the streets as people ran outside in the quake’s aftermath.

“I was sitting up against the window and I jumped out of my seat,” said Rebecca Ruffer, a U.S. exchange student studying at the Universidad Veritas in San Jose who was on the third floor of her building when the quake struck. “This is the worst earthquake since I’ve been here.”
Tectonic Plates

Costa Rica and the rest of Central America are susceptible to earthquakes because of the movement of at least four tectonic plates, including the Cocos and Caribbean plates. The country has suffered four quakes of magnitude 6.1 or greater since 1991. A magnitude 6.4 quake near Cartago in 1910 killed 700 people, according to the USGS.

“Central America is a highly seismically-active region,”said John Bellini, a geophysicist at the USGS. “A 7.6 is not a surprise” for the region, he said.

At least 75 aftershocks were recorded following the initial tremor, according to Costa Rica’s seismology agency.

“It started off very slowly, not unlike the smaller earthquakes we have here,” said Eric Turner, a press official at the U.S. Embassy in San Jose. “But it picked up strength and was longer in duration.”
U.S. Tourists

About 80,000 to 90,000 U.S. citizens live in Costa Rica and approximately one million U.S. visitors travel to the country’s tourist destinations, such as the Guanacaste region, each year, Turner said. The State Department established a toll-free phone number concerned families can use to get more information. The number is 1-888-407-4747.

There were no reports of significant damage or injuries at Marriott International Inc.’s properties, said John Wolf, a spokesman for the Bethesda Maryland-based company. Marriott, the largest publicly traded U.S. hotel chain, has six hotels in Costa Rica, according to its website.

Sorya Gaulin, a spokeswoman for Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, said in an e-mail that her company is monitoring the situation and that customers and guests were safe. Four Seasons has one property on the Papagayo Peninsula.

The country’s largest refinery, Refinadora Costarricense de Petroleo SA, wasn’t damaged by the quake, manager Henry Arias said in a phone interview. Production at the refinery, on the Caribbean coast, has been halted since late last year for an expansion project, Arias said.

The Costa Rica colon strengthened 0.2 percent to 497.25. The yield on the country’s dollar bonds maturing in 2020 were little changed at 4.82 percent.

To contact the reporters on this story: Adam Williams in Rio de Janeiro at awilliams111@bloomberg.net; Nacha Cattan in Mexico City at ncattan@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Joshua Goodman at jgoodman19@bloomberg.net

Costa Rica Power Restored After Magnitude 7.6 Earthquake Strikes - Businessweek