The Tico Times Online Daily Page

Central Pacific Wakes to
Earthquake Damage
By María Gabriela Díaz and Katherine Stanley
Tico Times Staff
mgdiaz@ticotimes.net kstanley@ticotimes.net

An earthquake during the wee hours of Saturday morning provided an unpleasant wake-up call for sleepers nationwide, including the visiting King of Spain, and caused five deaths by heart attack as well as damage to buildings and roads in the Central Pacific province of Puntarenas .

The earthquake occurred at 2:07 a.m. , registered 6.2 on the Richter scale, and was followed by more than 100 smaller quakes, 4 of which exceeded 4.0 on the Richter scale, according to a statement Saturday evening from the National Emergency Commission (CNE).

The quake did not directly cause any deaths, although the CNE reported six earthquake-related fatalities, five of which were caused by heart attacks shortly after the quake.

During the pre-dawn hours, the CNE organized efforts to evaluate the damage, especially in the areas surrounding the earthquake's epicenter, located 10 kilometers northeast of Quepos, a Central Pacific port city and popular tourist destination.

The most serious damage took place in Quepos and the nearby town of Parrita , where residents lost electrical power and potable water. The Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE) reported that power was restored by noon on Saturday, and the CNE reported most access to potable water had been restored by Saturday evening.

Both the Parrita Clinic, which suffered structural damage, and the Quepos Hospital reported a large number of patients suffering from hysteria related to the tremors, according to the CNE statement.

According to the Transit Police, the worst of the damage to the nation's roadways was quickly contained on a temporary basis, but extensive additional repairs will be needed.

Transit Police spokesman Felix Salazar told The Tico Times Saturday afternoon that all the roadways that had been closed because of earthquake-related damage had been reopened.

Affected roadways included Route 32 between San José and Limón, otherwise known as the Braulio Carrillo highway, where five landslides occured, according to Salazar. An access ramp to Route 2, or the Interamericana Sur, was closed Saturday morning but had been reopened by the afternoon.

Salazar said 10 kilometers of the road between Parrita and Quepos suffered serious damage. The National Roadway Council (CONAVI) filled the crevices on a temporary basis, but additional work will be needed to repave the damaged areas, he added.

According to the daily La Nación, the five people who suffered fatal heart attacks in the minutes after the quake ranged from 61 to 95 years of age, and were residents of the greater San José area.

Manuel Pensatto, 32, lost control of his motorcycle on the General Cañas highway shortly after the earthquake and has been widely described in the press as the sixth quake-related fatality. However, Salazar said the accident was not necessarily caused by tremors, but by Pensatto's excessive speed.

“The press has assumed that it was caused by the quake, but now that the conditions of the accident have been examined, it's apparent that wasn't necessarily the case,” Salazar said.

Those hardest hit by the quake spent Saturday trying to come to grips with the damage to their homes and businesses.

“Now I'm left without my home and the business I used to support my family,” Alicia Mata lamented, while the eight family members who shared her house in Pocares, approximately 5 km south of Parrita, salvaged their belongings from the ruins of the wooden structure.

Mata told The Tico Times that because of a walking impediment, she was unable to leave her bed during the earthquake and had to be rescued by neighbors who tore down the wall to her room.

Hugo Cajinas, who said he and his wife escaped their ruined home through a window after the earthquake, said the convenience store they run, Comisariato Damas, would probably have to be rebuilt.

“We are not too worried because we own another house, and will move our belongings there today. The problem is one of us will have to spend the night here, guarding the remains of our store from thieves,” he said.

The family of Fabio Araya, who estimated damages to his home and business in downtown Parrita will amount to ¢500,000 (approximately $1,100) improvised a sleeping area in their home's front yard after the earthquake cracked their home's walls.

The Social Security Clinic of Parrita was severely damaged when the earthquake caused part of the ceiling to collapse, cracked the floor, and visibly sank the building approximately an inch into the ground.

Dr. Cristel Knohr, who was on duty at the time of the earthquake and alone in the building except for a nurse and guard, said the clinic was immediately left without electricity, and he had to manually turn on the generator, because it did not start automatically. By 4:30 p.m. , help arrived from the Social Security System (Caja) from Limón, which sent a mobile medical unit.

He reported only a few patients with “minor injuries and concussions, or panic attacks” induced by the earthquake, but “nothing serious.”

Heads of state from Latin American and Spain , in San José for the Iberoamerican Summit, took the early-morning surprise in stride. According to La Nación, when asked how Juan Carlos I, the King of Spain, had reacted to the unwelcome jolt, Costa Rican President Abel Pacheco imitated the royal visitor's Spanish accent and said the king initially thought a train was passing close by his room.