Earthquakes Shake Country

Central and southern Costa Rica was feeling a little shook up this week after being rattled by several earthquakes.

On Tuesday, a magnitude 5.0 earthquake shook the central Pacific coast and the Central Valley, according to a statement from the Volcanological and Seismological Observatory of Costa Rica (OVSICORI).

The quake occurred at 6:31 a.m. and originated 24 kilometers southeast of Quepos. No serious damage was reported, said OVSICORI researcher Rodney Quintero. The quake was caused by a collision of the Coco and Panama tectonic plates, he said.

Shortly after 1 p.m. Saturday, an earthquake measuring 4.6 jolted the central Pacific town of Parrita and was also felt in the Southern Zone and Central Valley.

OVSICORI director Carlos Montero told the daily La Nación this earthquake was unlike others that have occurred recently in the central Pacific because it wasn’t caused by oceanic and continental tectonic plates colliding, but rather by a “deformation” of a continental plate.

A smaller 3.1 magnitude quake shook the Pérez Zeledón area in the Southern Zone at 9:50 a.m.Wednesday.