At 11:23 pm on Tuesday night, a 6.7 magnitude earthquake in Puerto Armuelles, Panama, shook practically the entire Costa Rican territory.
The Red Sismológica Nacional (RSN) – National Seismological Network – located the earthquake 11 km east of that port, near the Costa Rican border on the Pacific coast, at a depth of 31 km.
Within minutes, a series of replicas was unleashed. In almost 50 minutes, the RSN counted at least 10 strong replicas, the strongest a 5.1 at 11:47 pm.
Residents of the southern zone of Costa Rica bordering Panama reported the quake as “Fuertisimo” (very strong).
- 11:33 pm, Magnitude 4.0
- 11:38 pm, Magnitude 4.2
- 11:39 pm, Magnitude 4.3
- 11:41 pm, Magnitude 4.4
- 11:47 pm, Magnitude 5.1
- 11:54 pm, Magnitude 3.6
- 11:57 pm, Magnitude 3.1
- 12:01 am, Magnitude 3.5 (26th)
- 12:04 am, Magnitude 2.7
- 12:08 am, Magnitude 3.5
The tremor was felt in San Jose and in many parts of Costa Rica.
Momentos cuando sucedía el temblor en chiriqui pic.twitter.com/0JZuigbsbF
— LUIS CARLOS MELENDEZ (@LuisCarlosMeln1) June 26, 2019
Two houses in the southern region were damaged by the quake, according to the National Emergency Commission (CNE); there were also reports of power cuts in several communities in the southwest of the country, near the epicenter.
The were no reports of casualties, but USGS said the disaster was “potentially widespread,” their website pointing out that “past events with this alert level have required a regional or national level response.”