Residents in Costa Rica's Southern Zone were shaken yesterday to find their buildings' walls cracked after Monday's quake that rumbled up to 5.2 on the Richter scale – then they shook again with yet another quake, this time measuring 4.8, the fifth to hit the area in two days.

But the Costa Rican quakes, which also shook across the Panamanian border, have left cracks in 23 homes and a road, according to a bulletin from the National Emergency Commission (CNE). Three schools and a hospital were also partly damaged and forced to evacuate during Monday's tremor.

CNE workers are stationed in the Corredores canton to help clean up the wreckage, including a cave-in on the road between the towns of Santa Rosa and Caracol, as well as cracks in school walls in Santa Lucía, Caracol and Pueblo de Dios.

Ciudad Neilly Hospital experienced several cracked walls and columns, but administrators have since reported the damage is minor and employees are back to work as normal.

Experts at the University of Costa Rica have explained a likely cause of the quake is a chain of active faults at the Coco and Nazca tectonic plates, the CNE bulletin said.

The 4.8 quake yesterday occurred at 3:20 p.m., according to the Volcanological and Seismological Observatory of Costa Rica (OVSICORI), and struck 5 kilometers underground with its epicenter 30 km south of the community of Laurel, in the Puntarenas province, near Panama, the news agency EFE reported.

Tremors also occurred yesterday in El Salvador, reaching 5.4 on the Richter, and southern Guatemala, hitting 5.9, according to separate press reports in those countries. No injuries or property damage was reported there by late yesterday.