Thursday, September 6, 2012

MAJOR NEARBY EARTHQUAKE!!

Costa Rica experienced a major earthquake yesterday, very close to Tamarindo!  I am interrupting my current series of beach photos to bring news of the earthquake.

A 7.6 magnitude earthquake struck the Nicoya Peninsula in Costa Rica's northwest province of Guanacaste.  That is where Tamarindo is located.  The epicenter was only about 25 miles (40 km) south of Tamarindo.

Most important, there apparently was only one reported casualty.  Sadly, a woman in her 50's in Filadelphia died of a heart attack during the earthquake.  Filadelphia is twice as far from the epicenter as Tamarindo.

I am at our home in Scottsdale right now, rather than at one of our condos in Tamarindo.  Reports from our property management company are that both of our condos are just fine, without structural damage to the buildings and without even broken water lines.  Roof tiles were shaken off the buildings and glasses and dishes fell out of the cabinets and shelves.

We watched out condo building as it was being constructed.  The walls and floors are solid concrete, with lots of rebar.  Even many of the interior walls are concrete.  Thank goodness the construction was so strong that the buildings would survive a major quake so close.

The earthquake was felt throughout Costa Rica, and also in Nicaragua and Panama.  Most of the news reports reaching the international media come from the capitol of San Jose, which is 90 miles (144 km) away from the epicenter.  The reports were that the quake was frightening because it lasted a long time, but there were not aftershocks.  There are interruptions to some electricity and other services.  Costa Rica does not have a military, so it lacks the emergency response capabilities that are often provided by a military.  The people are resourceful, and reports were that people stayed calm and are helping each other.

I am using a photo of a mosaic in the Tamarindo Catholic church to illustrate this post about the earthquake.  I will resume the beach series tomorrow.

This week we have more photos of Julie's raft trip through the Grand Canyon on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

13 comments:

Fun60 said...

Glad to hear you are all safe. What a frightening experience.

Sharon said...

Sorry to hear about the earthquake but, glad your property is safe from harm. It must have been frightening for the people there.

Judy said...

Earthquakes are always so scary to hear about. So far, I have never felt one, even though we have had a few small ones here. Sad about the woman who passed from the heart attack.
I hope things will get back to normal soon.

PerthDailyPhoto said...

I did hear about it on the news Dave and did think about yourself and Julie..so glad to hear is all well, it could have been so much worse I guess. Sad to hear that there was a fatality, it must be such a scary experience, one I hope I never experience that's for sure.

Lowell said...

That must have been very frightening! So glad that your condos came through without too much damage...that was a rather large tremor. I was in one in California when a teenager. Not fun!

Anonymous said...

oh !

The strongest one so far, that I lived was a 4,9R , just am imagining this force. Long time non over here.

Wishing you all a kind Friday and no aftershocks.

Jack said...

I thought about Julie and you and your places. The daughter of good friends was honeymooning at the Four Seasons Resort during the earthquake and I worried about her, too. Everyone seemed to come through it without significant damage.

Kate said...

Earthquakes are very unsettling (no pun intended) and quite frightening. Glad there was only one reported fatality.

Stefan Jansson said...

Scary stuff.

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