Costa Rica Earthquake 2012: 7.6 Magnitude, Tsunami Warning Issued (DETAILS)
An earthquake struck Costa Rica and a large part of Central America with a magnitude of 7.6 at 8:42 a.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 5.
It was originally estimated at a 7.9 magnitude and hit 38 miles from the town of Liberia in Central America.
The earthquake was primarily 87 miles from the capital of San Jose, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. It was also felt in the capital of Nicaragua.
According To ABC News, a tsunami warning went into effect for Costa Rica, Panama, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala and Peru.
Kenia Campos, a Costa Rican city official, told the news source that the earthquake knocked down houses and created landslides, which blocked two roads in the Hojancha area.
"So far, we don't have victims," said Campos. "People were really scared ... We have had moderate quakes but an earthquake (this strong) hadn't happened in more than 50 years."
Douglas Salgado, Costa Rica's National Commission of Risk Prevention and Emergency Attention geographer, said there are no reported deaths or damage at this time in the capital but "there's chaos in San Jose because it was a strong earthquake of long duration."
"It was pretty strong and caused collective chaos," he added.
Local authorities had trouble reaching people in the earthquake's zone. Meanwhile, aerial searches are being conducted by helicopter over highways and buildings to search for any damage, according to Salgado. Phones and electrical power had not been knocked out but communication was down 88 miles from the capital.
Diana Salas, a worker at Hotel Punta Islita in Guanacaste said,"everybody is crying a lot and the telephone lines are saturated."
In northwest Costa Rica, trees shook violently in the coastal town of Nosara.
A tsunami watch went into effect in Mexico and Chile, according to a bulletin from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. The warning was issued due to the size of the earthquake.
The earthquake in Costa Rica is considered the biggest since an earlier one that occurred in 1991, which had a 7.6 magnitude and left 47 people dead. In January 2009, 40 people died from a 6.1 magnitude earthquake.
