Costa Rica: 6.2 Earthquake leaves nationals and tourists stranded

Once again, the Twitter microblogging platform has proven to be an exceptional way to efficiently move news across the globe, in this case, related to the 6.2 Earthquake that was felt throughout Costa Rica, with the epicenter in Vara Blanca only 35 Km. away from the capital city of  San José. After the strong tremor, people in the capital city and neighboring towns of Alajuela and Heredia, stayed outside their office buildings, as police closed off streets in downtown areas fearing that old buildings would collapse.

After the quake, telephone lines became jammed, and electricity was cut off in several areas of the city for a few hours. People with family and friends in the affected areas had to depend on alternative information sources such as the CoverItLive live-blogging application that the La Nacion newspaper has kept available for people to access, read and respond after their website came down.

Other alternative news sources were journalist @ameliarueda who kept the twitter account buzzing with insider news on dramatic situations as people contacted her. In the touristic area of La Paz Waterfall Gardens, at least 200 employees and about 200 other visitors and tourists were trapped and isolated at the La Paz Peace Lodge and Waterfall gardens, which according to an employee who communicated with Amelia Rueda, was completely destroyed, although no people died. You can hear the audio and read an account of the earthquake at Amelia’s blog, as well as later reports of private helicopters charging tourists about 3USD for taking them away from disaster areas.

Strong Earthquake Rattles Costa Rica, Kills at Least 1

The U.S. Geological Survey said the 6.1-magnitude temblor was centered 22 miles northwest of the capital of San Jose in the early afternoon, near the Poas Volcano national park.

The Red Cross said in a statement that a young girl, who hasn’t yet been identified, was killed by a landslide unleashed by the quake near the city of Alajuela, north of the capital.

Local TV station Teletica showed broken windows, fallen ceiling panels and cracked walls in Alajuela. The quake was felt strongly throughout the small Central American country, Teletica said. Cell phone service was interrupted briefly.

Thousands of people ran from homes and shopping centers, frightened by the quake. In the capital, women kneeled to pray in plazas. Others cried.

There were at least four aftershocks.

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