A New Life In Costa Rica

Friday 13 Earthquake

It was a doozy! Bill and I were in town with a friend. At the moment the earthquake shook the ground we were driving the streets of San Ramon. Had just left the grocery store. Thank goodness. I would not have wanted to be in there when this hit.

Reports say it was a 6.0 quake. We were confused watching reports in Spanish as we thought the news was saying there were actually 2 quakes. One right after the other with different epicenters. That would match what Callista said she felt at friends house. She felt two distinctive shakes. Both strong. We're still confused.

Having not felt it we didn't know what to expect when we got home. Our little dog was left home alone. She was a nervous wreck when we opened the door, took off running and didn't come back for an hour. Can't say I blame her after seeing the mess left behind by the quake. It had to be terrifying to hear all the glass breaking.

We've had things move a little in the past but haven't had anything fall off shelves before. I'm glad we weren't home for this one. Even the big quake a couple years ago that leveled a town not far away didn't cause things to fall the way this one did.

Once we entered the house each of us picked an area and started cleaning up. Not a single room went without something being knocked over or broken. I went right to the kitchen which had the most breakage. Wine glasses jumped off the shelf and shattered sending chunks of glass into the front room. Even the fridge moved several inches! All our cleaning supplies in the laundry room were scattered on the floor. Thank goodness I'd just watered all the inside orchids, they were safe and sound in the bathtub. The craftroom, several things from the peg board had fallen and a jar of safety pins hit the ground and shattered. Minor stuff. The TV in the guestroom was spared by falling against the wall. WHEW! You can see by the dust line in the photo how far it moved.

It sure got our adrenaline pumping. After we'd clean up I called our friend who we'd been with at the time of the quake to see what damage he endured. His place was untouched. Hearing the stress in my voice or perhaps the adrenaline he thought we were worse than I'd said. I did mention we'd probably eat the pie he sent us home with for dinner. Not because I couldn't cook but because I didn't want to. What does our friend do? He gathered up a couple other friends of ours, went and got dinner and brought it over. The three mousekateers came to the rescue. I heart our friends!!!!!!!!!

No major damage in the daylight this morning. Concrete homes are built to withstand earthquakes. 

 Next time we're home during a quake, Bill won't have to ask twice for me to get the hell out of the house.  

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It was the strangest thing coming home and seeing the mess. Having not felt the earthquake it kinda seemed like someone had ransacked the house.

 

 

 

There's something about the sky

Yep, that's what I told Bill Sunday evening as I sat at the computer looking out at the sky. Something is going on. I searched all the sites I could find about earthquakes and found nothing. The following morning I found a post on yahoo groups Costa Rica Living, by someone asking if anyone else felt the quake the previous night.

I'm convinced even if no one else in the world is that the sky will give you an early earthquake warning. I have met some locals who believe as I do, the "piedras", rocks in the sky will let you know of a coming quake. They can't tell you where, that I know of but still it fascinates me.  

 

Hubby still isn't convinced but I will continue to photograph the sky when I see the piedras and post them over the next year. Perhaps if I have a year of data he'll start to believe? Remember this is the guy who didn't believe birds really migrated until he saw the satellite photos.

Here's a link to the last 10 earthquakes in Costa Rica and the USGS Costa Rica earthquake info.

Friday the 13th Earthquake

We felt significant shaking at our house outside San Ramon de Alajuela, Costa Rica around 3:22PM. You could feel it roll through. It rolled then it shook. My computer monitor wiggled. Bill yelled from the front of the house, I was in the back. He said the screen door was rattling. Walls shook but nothing fell. Our little dog was outside. She didn't like it and ran in circles barking.

I haven't been able to find anything on the USGS website yet. I reported that I felt it. Lots of twittering about it and a notice from La Nacion that yes, indeed we had a strong quake but nothing with the magnitude yet. Must've been a good one as we had a 4.7 on Monday that went un-noticed.

More when I know more! How exciting. We don't get scared around here, we get excited.

Early morning shaking

Just had a little quake, 3:39A.M. on my computer clock. I turned to look around and see who else was up way too early this morning when I realized it was an earthquake shaking my computer chair and not a family member. Seems these little quakes never register on the quake websites but what the heck, I'll check anyway

Amazing, it IS listed on the USGS website. Geeze, a 5.2 guess it wasn't such a little quake after all. The epicenter was  145 miles SSW of Puntareanas which is just over an hour from us.

Earthquake zone, six months later

Recently we took a drive to Poasito and the surrounding areas hit by the earthquake in January. We didn't know what exactly we expected but our expectations couldn't have prepared us for what we encountered.

      

An entire town disappeared, Cinchona no longer exists.

Our visit to the earthquake zone had a purpose. We'd collected clothing and what not and wanted to take it directly to the people instead of giving it to an agency that may or may not get the goods to those who needed it. We drove into the campamento where the people who'd lost everything were staying. One by one the women came out of their cabinas to greet us. They directed us to unload our goods in the comedor where bags could be opened and stuff spread out and picked through without fear of clothing getting soaked by rain. They were so appreciative. We'll be going back through our closets again and making another trip soon. We didn't have a lot of men's clothing this time around so Bill better watch out and guard his favorite jeans or I'll be packing them up.

While in the area we also wanted to check on how a couple of our favorite places had done during the quake. Driving through Poasito we were surprised at what was standing and what had been leveled. While Freddo Fresas restaurant and gift shop were still open and serving bus loads of customers Freddos home across the street, a home we'd visited previously was leveled. Completely gone. Their family escaped injury. They considered themselves lucky as 42 people lost their lives.

Colinas del Poas, another favorite place seemed untouched. They looked to be adding hanging bridges to the other activities available on the property. There was a sign saying the fishing ponds were temporarily closed. Could be because of the bridge construction, we didn't ask. Over all the place was a beautiful as ever.  

The complete devastation of some areas was a bit overwhelming for us. This was an area we had seriously thought about moving to. The home we'd considered buying was still standing. Many others weren't or are now unsafe to live in.

We could have left the area that day feeling sad for what once was, instead we drove home in awe of the people of Poas and the surrounding communities. People who'd lost everything or close to it showed us once again that stuff doesn't matter. Love is all you need.