Costa Rica was hit with at least five smaller earthquakes Monday night and Tuesday morning that ranged in magnitude from 2.8 to 4.3, and indirectly causing the death of a teenage girl, according to seismologists and police.
Arelys Rodríguez Miranda, 17, died about 5 a.m. Tuesday after becoming stressed as a result the aftershocks, Jose Gregorio Soro, a close family friend, told The Tico Times.
According to the Volcanological and Seismological Observatory of Costa Rica (OVSICORI), a 2.8 magnitude aftershock hit 1 kilometer south of Varablanca at 6:45 p.m. Monday. It was followed at 7:25 p.m. by a 3.4 magnitude tremor 7 kilometers northeast of Bajos del Toro.
At 8:23 p.m. Monday, a quake measuring 4.1 struck 7 kilometers southwest of Cinchona, one of the hardest hit communities that is now abandoned. At 9:37 p.m., a 4.0 quake struck 10 kilometers north of Bajos del Toro, and at 1:09 a.m. Tuesday, a quake measuring 4.3 struck in Fraijanes, another region heavily damaged by Thursday’s 6.2 magnitude quake.
National Emergency Commission (CNE) spokesman Reinaldo Carballo said on Tuesday that his office had not receive any reports of serious damage following the succession of the overnight temblors, all of which were centered in the Poás Volcano region, the epicenter of Thursday’s 6.2 magnitude quake.
Javier Pacheco, of OVSICORI, said smaller aftershocks will continue for a few months as the plates readjust, but will become smaller.
–Leland Baxter-Neal
and Holly K. Sonneland
