On the final day of August, just hours before people in Costa Rica began preparing for Sunday Mass, brunch, football games, community activities, and family outings, a 5.1 moment magnitude (Mw) earthquake jolted communities from the southern Pacific region down to the border with Panama and up to the Central Valley. The seismic event was detected by the National Seismology Network (Spanish initials: RSN) at exactly 4:01 am. The epicenter was located 45 kilometers south of the pristine Playa Dominical in the Osa canton. Geologists from the RSN and the University of Costa Rica reported that more than a dozen… Continue reading →
On the final day of August, just hours before people in Costa Rica began preparing for Sunday Mass, brunch, football games, community activities, and family outings, a 5.1 moment magnitude (Mw) earthquake jolted communities from the southern Pacific region down to the border with Panama and up to the Central Valley. The seismic event was detected by the National Seismology Network (Spanish initials: RSN) at exactly 4:01 am.
The epicenter was located 45 kilometers south of the pristine Playa Dominical in the Osa canton. Geologists from the RSN and the University of Costa Rica reported that more than a dozen aftershocks have been recorded in the wake of the main seismic disturbance at 4:01 am. In fact, an aftershock was recorded at the time this dispatch was being filed.
The RSN explained that the earthquake, which was strongly felt all over the Osa Peninsula as well as in Quepos, Playa Matapalo, San Pablo in Heredia, and even in the renowned artisan community of Sarchi, province of Alajuela. People who were rudely awakened by this earth tremor did not take long to activate their computers, tablets and smartphones to post intensity reports on the RSN Facebook Timeline. These social media reports have proven to be very useful for seismologists and emergency management specialists.
According to comments posted on Facebook and Twitter, quite a few communities across Costa Rica were shaken awake. Reports from Escazu indicated that the quake felt less intense than a rocking chair, but in El Coyol of Alajuela it was a stronger and prolonged experience. Some residents of the Osa Peninsula who called local radio stations explained that they had seen people run out of their homes while still in their underwear and pajamas.
The official report from the RSN indicates that this was a subduction process of the Cocos tectonic plate. The depth was 4.5 kilometers, and the numerous aftershocks did not surpass the 4.0 Mw magnitude. It is important to note that all these aftershocks are not indicative of the Osa Peninsula being an earthquake cluster. As previously reported by The Costa Rica Star, some regions of our country tend to experience higher periods of seismic activity from time to time.