The National Emergency Commission (CNE) is scrambling today to provide assistance to victims of the 6.2 magnitude earthquake in the Vara Blanca area northwest of San José. -- 3:45 p.m. CST.

The death toll from the magnitude-6.2 earthquake that rocked Costa Rica yesterday has risen to 17, the Red Cross said earlier today after 13 more bodies were found. -- 11:41 a.m. CST

Carrizal Fair
Bullfights, food, cultural shows, Jan. 9-12, Carrizal, Alajuela.

Copa del Café 2009
International junior tennis tournament, through Jan. 10, Costa Rica Country Club, Escazú, www.copacafe.com.

Peregrino Gris in concert
Celtic music, Jan. 9, 10 p.m., Jazz Café, Escazú.

Son de Tikizia in concert
Salsa, Jan. 9, 10 p.m., Jazz Café, San Pedro.

Concert Goizueta y 5+
Jazz Fusion with Tango, Jan. 9, Casa Fonda el Solar, Santa Cruz, Guanacaste and Jan. 10, 9 p.m., Fulana Casa, Nicoya, Guanacaste, both at 9 p.m.

Adventures Under the Sun Vacation Trips
Ages 13-18, Jan. 9-16, either Nicoya Peninsula (sea kayaking, surfing, overnight horseback trip) or Osa Peninsula (sea kayaking, surfing), 2289-0404, www.adventuresunderthesun.com.

National Surf Circuit
Jan. 10-11, Tamarindo, www.surfingcr.net.

Circus Show
Performed by the Arte Circense Group, Jan. 10-11, 11 a.m., Simón Bolivar Zoo, Calle 11, Avenida 11.

Ann De Tobel and Cristian Schreurs two artists from Belgium
Photography, paintings, music, opens Jan. 10, 3 p.m., with two-piano concert, José Figueres Ferrer Cultural Center.

Cardamomo in concert
Middle Eastern music, Jan. 10, 10 p.m., Jazz Café, Escazú.

Robert Aguilar & The Neotics in Concert
Neo soul, Jan. 10, 10 p.m., Jazz Café, San Pedro.

Allan Guzmán in concert
Trova, Jan. 11, 10 p.m., Jazz Café, San Pedro.

Plays and dance
Parque Nacional de Diversiones features different plays and folklore dancing during the afternoon at different sites of the amusement park, La Uruca, 2 km. west of Hospital Mexico, on the parallel road to the General Cañas Highway.

TT reader Hugo Vega sent in this photograph of a traffic light bouncing in Alajuela, in one of the areas hit hard by yesterday's earthquake. Post your quake pictures in our Reader Photo Gallery.

Photo courtesy of Hugo Vega

At least three people, all children, were killed dead and more than 300 injured when a 6.2 magnitude earthquake rocked Costa Rica's populous Central Valley yesterday afternoon.

Two sisters, ages 4 and 7, died after being buried under a landslide triggered by the earthquake in Cinchona, in the province of Alajuela, northwest of San José, Red Cross spokesman Freddy Roman said. A third girl, age 12, died in a separate landslide in the vicinity.

At least 42 communities were hard hit, and evacuations in many were carried out into the evening.

Some 300 people remained stranded at a hotel in Vara Blanca, a town at the base of Poás Volcano, according to the National Emergency Commission (CNE).

The tremor's epicenter was 10 kilometers east of the volcano and 6 kilometers below the Earth's surface, according to the Volcanological and Seismological Observatory of Costa Rica (OVSICORI). Poás is Costa Rica's most-visited national park.

CNE put the greater metropolitan area of San José on a red alert as emergency teams were arriving to the area more than two hours after the 1:19 p.m. (CST) quake. About 1,000 aftershocks were recorded in seven hours after the 6.2 quake. Many were strong enough to be felt.

The earthquake is the biggest felt in recent years in the Central Valley. People poured from their homes and office buildings as the ground shook. A tremor measuring 4.0 originated in the same area Tuesday morning and was felt in San José but caused no damage.

A quake of 6.5 was registered in Costa Rica's Southern Zone Nov. 26, according to Walter Jiménez, of OVSICORI.

Jiménez warned that further quakes should be expected in the coming days, but he could not estimate their magnitude.

Karla González, head of the Public Transportation Ministry told Channel 7 that her office is investigating possible damage to a dam on the Río Blanco River in Sarapiquí, on the Caribbean slope.

President Oscar Arias called for calm. “Our country has a long history of seismic activity and the events that occurred this afternoon, though tragic, are part of the normal behavior of a land such as ours, which, because of its location and geological conditions, is prone to constant tremors at different magnitudes,” the president said in a statement.

Arias is scheduled to visit affected areas this morning.

Despite facing some sobering realities, the Fiestas de Palmares will party on. The annual 12-day festival of food, bars, crafts and rides that descends on Palmares, a coffee town 45 minutes northwest of San José, has developed a reputation for trash-producing hedonism in recent years. But organizers have taken steps to ensure that this year's bash is as family and environmentally friendly as ever.

Festivities kick off Wednesday, and once again big-name concerts are expected to be the highlight. Mexican singer Ana Bárbara headlines the rancher festival the evening of Jan. 16, while Mexican artist Pee Wee performs the following day at noon. The international group Calle 13 closes out the fiestas with a performance on Jan. 25. Other acts on the ticket include Mexican group Kinky, rock/ska/reggae act Los Pericos, DJ group Deep Dish, Argentinean act Miranda! and DJ Roger Sanchez.

See today's print or digital edition of The Tico Times for more on this story.

Liberal Constitutional Party spokesman Leonel Teller warns that political violence in Nicaragua has gotten out of hand and “could end in civil war” if things continue the way they are.

“We know how this started, with electoral fraud on Nov. 9, but we don't know how it will end,” Tellez told The Nica Times yesterday. “Anything could happen – we don't know how far this will go.”

Téllez's comments came after another day of violence in the contested municipalities of Nindirí, Masaya, where Liberal and Sandinista sympathizers reportedly attacked the homes of each other's former candidates. Violence also was reported in the northern border outpost of Wiwilí, the mayor's office was burned to the ground Thursday morning.

Crime scene investigators are scouring the charred ruins for clues to who lit the building ablaze in what police say was a midnight arson attack.

Police spokesperson Vilma Reyes said the arsonists apparently doused the building with fuel before setting it afire around 1 a.m. Thursday morning.

When firefighters – stationed four hours away – arrived on scene, the blaze had already been controlled by local residents, said Jinotega fire chief José Dolores Morales. Morales said there were no victims, but that 80 percent of the building and many municipal documents were destroyed.

Police commissioner Reyes said police are also investigating a likely case of political violence in Nindirí, where suspects reportedly under the influence of alcohol fired mortar bombs at the house of former Liberal Party mayoral candidate Lucas Reyes around 2 a.m. Thursday morning. The attack was allegedly in response to reports that bullets were fired at the house of Sandinista mayor-elect in Nindirí, Clarisa Rivas.

The violence in Nindirí and Wilwilí came a day after Sandinista supporters clashed with Liberals in the contested municipality of La Concepción, resulting in four people injured after being attacked by Sandinistas.

The Liberals yesterday denied any involvement in the post-electoral violence, and the Sandinistas had no comment. Reyes said police are investigating.

The death toll from the magnitude-6.2 earthquake that rocked Costa Rica yesterday has risen to 17, the Red Cross said earlier today after 13 more bodies were found.

A Red Cross spokesman told news agency EFE earlier that thus far rescue officials have confirmed 14 dead, some 2,450 people directly affected by the earthquake and at least 22 missing. A total of 1,078 people are being housed in shelters and more than 1,244 remain stranded, including 300 tourists stuck at a hotel in Vara Blanca, according to the CNE.

Red Cross official Arnoldo Sanauria told The Tico Times they recently discovered three more bodies trapped in vehicles caught in landslides. Meanwhile, the Red Cross press office will officially confirm only the four deaths reported yesterday.

Rescue teams and security forces, meanwhile, were still trying to reach the zone most affected by yesterday's quake, since some communities remained cut off due to landslides.

Daniel Gallardo, the head of the National Emergency Commission (CNE), told reporters that over the course of the day several helicopters will rescue hundreds of people still stranded in the areas closest to the epicenter, the Poás Volcano zone, some 60 kilometers northwest of San José.

Sanauria also said they have rescued 17 people near the La Paz Waterfall, both tourists and Ticos. Currently at least nine helicopters – including two from the National Police, one from the CNE and other private rentals – are out picking up people from different locations and bringing them to the Tobias Bolaños Airport in Pavas, in western San José. Of the 17 rescued, none needed hospitalization. Priority for evacuation is being given to injured, women, children and the elderly.

The United States Embassy also donated the use of Black Hawk helicopters for rescue efforts, while Colombian President Alvaro Uribe pledged additional rescue materials and humanitarian aid.

The greatest impact from the quake and its aftershocks – some 1,200 through early this morning – was felt in the towns of San Pedro de Poás and Vara Blanca, the communities closest to the epicenter, with homes flattened, roads rendered impassable and some neighborhoods cut off. Officials do expect the death toll to increase in the coming hours.

Buildings were also damaged in San José and the city of Alajuela, where police evacuated offices as a precaution.

The earthquake occurred at around 1:19 p.m. on Thursday and was felt throughout Costa Rica. Authorities in neighboring Nicaragua said the quake was felt in parts of their territory, but did not cause any damage or injuries.

Public Security Minister Janina del Vecchio said the priority today is to enter the area most affected by the quake and rescue those who were injured.

Gallardo, meanwhile, said cloud cover and rain in the area surrounding the Poás Volcano was making visibility difficult for rescue helicopters pilots, but that authorities will work to evacuate the inhabitants of San Pedro de Poás and Vara Blanca during the course of the day.

President Oscar Arias, who will visit the disaster zone this morning, is expected to declare a state of national emergency.

A variety of aid agencies are coordinating relief efforts.

One aid agency, San José-based Transportes International Gash, said it was urgently seeking diapers, water, milk and non-perishable food items. They can be reached at 2232-0695.

The Escazú Rotary Club has set up operations in the Hotel San Gildar in San Rafel de Escazú, and is seeking supplies including sleeping bags, milk, non-perishable food, candles and personal hygiene items. Contact the group at 2289-8843.

Other aid organizations have posted information on a Facebook group, “Terremoto Costa Rica: ayuada a victimas” (Costa Rica Earthquake: victims' help) (http://es-la.facebook.com:80/group.php?gid=43715883340).

Further, the Red Cross can be contacted at 2542-5000 (operations) or 2528-0000 (administration).

The National Emergency Commission (CNE) is scrambling today to provide assistance to victims of the 6.2 magnitude earthquake in the Vara Blanca area northwest of San José.

The efforts are aimed at residents and tourists stranded by landslides, collapsed homes and damaged roads.

CNE has opened four operation centers in Carrizal de Alajuela, Sarapiquí, San Pedro de Poás, and central Alajuela. In addition, about 15 teams have entered the affected areas by land early today to search and rescue those stranded residents.

Government helicopters were sent in yesterday afternoon and early today to evacuate injured residents and tourists.

At least five tourists have been reported injured, according to CNE.

As of this afternoon, 150 to 200 tourists have been reported to be stranded in the Vara Blanca are near the popular La Paz Waterfall Gardens, Benavides said.

“We believe about 150 tourists have left the affected area by foot,” Benavides said.

The Costa Rican Tourism Board (ICT) has sent to Poasito eight high-traction vehicles and nine small buses to transport tourists who have left the danger zone on their own, Benavides said.

“We will provide them with accommodation and food once we get to them,” he said.

Benavides said several government agencies have been working since yesterday to airlift injured victims from the affected areas.

At noon today, CNE and other emergency and government agencies met to determine where more airlifts were needed. According to Benavides, two private companies were hired to continue airlifts out of the affected region. CNE hired Aerobell to aid the remaining stranded residents and tourists.

Early today, Aerobell was charging $1,600 to airlift groups of five people from Vara Blanca to the Tobías Bolaños Airport, in the western San José district of Pavas. The airport had to be closed about 2:15 p.m., after an explosion ripped through one of CNE's storage units. The company airlifted about 30 people this morning, said Melissa Cervantes, an Aerobell representative.

Benavides also said emergency agencies were waiting for U.S. military helicopters, which were scheduled to arrive this afternoon.

Thirty-one French tourists paid for private lifts from the Vara Blanca district to the Tobías Bolaños Airport today, said Natalí Vermerien, an associate of the tourists. She said her group paid Aerotour, a private company, $7, 415 for eight helicopter trips, which brought them to the airport.

Vermerien was standing at the Tobías Bolaños Airport with a sign reading “Leutard” to inform those other French tourists from her group where they could go.

As of 2 p.m., most of the tourists arriving at the Tobías Bolaños Airport had been taken there by private charters.

Benavides said he was aware of the private lifts but said the injured were considered priority.

On Thursday, there were reports of communication failures in the Sarapiquí-Tirimbina region but no reports of any major infrastructure damage were reported, said Carlos Chavarria spokesman for the Tourism Chamber, CANATUR.

CANATUR said no tourists affected in Heredia other than communication cutoffs in the area.

Today, Banco de Costa Rica said it is setting up an account for people who want to help the victims. The bank will match donations. The account number is 001-250-0 and will be active until Jan. 23.

-- Tico Times reporters Leland Baxter-Neal, Holly K. Sonneland, Vanessa I. Garnica contributed to this story.