A magnitude-7.6 earthquake shook Costa Rica and a wide swath of Central America on Wednesday, collapsing some houses, blocking highways and causing panic and at least one death from a heart attack.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake was centred about 60 kilometres from the town of Liberia. The magnitude initially was estimated at 7.9, but was quickly downgraded. Local residents said it shook for about 30 seconds.
While officials cancelled an initial tsunami warning, local police supervisor Jose Angel Gomez said about 5,000 people 80 per cent of the population had been evacuated from coastal towns in the Samara district west of the quake’s centre several hours after the quake struck at 8:42 a.m. He said water was receding from the shore.
One man died of a heart attack caused by fright, said Carlos Miranda, a Red Cross worker in Liberia, but there were no reports of deaths directly caused by the quake.
A preliminary review revealed some structural damage near the epicentre, but no deaths or injuries, said Douglas Salgado, a geographer with Costa Rica’s National Commission of Risk Prevention and Emergency Attention.
n the coastal town of Nosara, roughly 30 kilometres southwest of the epicentre, trees shook violently and light posts swayed. Teachers chased primary school students outside as the quake hit. Roads cracked and power lines fell to the ground.
Wednesday’s quake occurred in a seismically active zone where the Pacific tectonic plate is diving beneath Central America.
The last deadly quake to strike Costa Rica was in 2009, when 40 died in a magnitude-6.1 temblor. The last similar-sized quake to hit the country was in 1991 when 47 people were killed in the Limon-Pandora area.
While there was no immediate evidence of tsunami waves, a regional warning was issued based on the quake’s strength.
The Associated Press, 2012