Two Quakes Shake Country

TWO quakes shook up Costa Rica in the days leading up to New Year’s, but no deaths or significant damages were reported.

A magnitude 5.1 earthquake, which turned out to be the biggest jolt of the year, hit Dec. 28 at 9:28 in the morning. It originated 40 kilometers underground and 30 kilometers northwest of the central-Pacific beach town of Quepos.

Though it was felt across the country, the quake was most intense in the Central Valley and the mountainous region south of San José known as Los Santos, according to a statement from the Volcanological and Seismological Observatory of Costa Rica, based at the Universidad Nacional (UNA).

Two days later, a second quake was felt in the Southern Zone of Costa Rica. The epicenter was in Panama, 100 kilometers south of the city of David. It measured 6.0 on the Richter scale.