The 2009 Cinchona earthquake occurred at on January 8 with an magnitude of 6.1 and a maximum

Mercalli intensity The Modified Mercalli intensity scale (MM, MMI, or MCS), developed from Giuseppe Mercalli's Mercalli intensity scale of 1902, is a seismic intensity scale used for measuring the intensity of shaking produced by an earthquake. It measures the eff ...

of VII (''Very strong''). The shock took place in northern

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

, north-northwest of San José and was felt throughout Costa Rica and in southern central

Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the coun ...

Damage

The earthquake took at least 34 lives, including at least three children, left about 64 people missing, and injured at least 91. Hundreds of people were trapped and two villages were cut off. Most of the victims died when a landslide occurred near the La Paz waterfall by the Poás Volcano, and 452 people including 369 tourists were evacuated from the area in helicopters. 1,244 people were displaced in the immediate aftermath. In addition, a hotel, houses, roads, and vehicles were damaged, and several bridges were also destroyed. The town of Cinchona was heavily hit, and all of the buildings there were heavily damaged. Power was temporarily disrupted in San José.

Aftermath

The Costa Rican

Red Cross The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million Volunteering, volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure re ...

sent at least 400 people to assist in the recovery. The agency said, "Some 42 communities were affected and sustained serious impacts on civil and electrical infrastructure...

hey Hey or Hey! may refer to: Music * Hey (band), a Polish rock band Albums * ''Hey'' (Andreas Bourani album) or the title song (see below), 2014 * ''Hey!'' (Julio Iglesias album) or the title song, 1980 * ''Hey!'' (Jullie album) or the title ...

are going to need a lot of help." Four

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attribu ...

s were also dispatched in order to help aid efforts. The ' (National Emergency Commission) requested private helicopters to help with the aid. Additionally, the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

and

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the ...

dispatched helicopters with aid to assist with the relief and recovery efforts. About 2,000

aftershock In seismology, an aftershock is a smaller earthquake that follows a larger earthquake, in the same area of the main shock, caused as the displaced crust adjusts to the effects of the main shock. Large earthquakes can have hundreds to thousa ...

s were felt throughout

. On January 12, President

Oscar Arias Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People * Oscar (given name), an Irish- and English-language name also used in other languages; the article includes the names Oskar, Oskari, Oszkár, Óscar, and other forms. * Oscar (Irish mythology), ...

declared a five-day period of national grieving out of respect for the victims, and asked the organizers of the ''Fiestas de Palmares'' to postpone them. On January 13, the

Banco de Costa Rica Banco de Costa Rica (BCR) is a state-owned commercial bank that operates in Costa Rica. With an equity of $806,606,710 and assets of $7,607,483,881, the bank has established itself as one of the strongest banking companies in both Costa Rica an ...

announced that it would offer home financing credit to homeowners who want to rebuild or fix their home.Garnica, Vanessa I. "Costa Rica, Nicaragua Daily News." Costa Rica Newspaper, The Tico Times, News, Costa Rica Real Estate, Travel – Costa Rica News, Costa Rica Earthquake. 13 Jan. 2009. .

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:2009 Costa Rica Earthquake

Earthquakes in Costa Rica January 2009 events in North America

Damage

Aftermath

See also

References

External links