A earthquake hit Costa Rica on Wednesday killing at least two people and triggered a Tsunami warning. The earthquake struck at 8:42 a.m. local time.
In San Jose, the 7.6 magnitude quake rattled the street as phones went down and water flowed out of pools. According to the local Red Cross two people died during the earthquake, one of them from a heart attack and one from being crushed under a collapsing wall.
This is the biggest earthquake to hit Costa Rica since 1991, when a 7.6 magnitude quake left 47 people dead.
The U.S. Geological Survey said that the quake was centered 38 miles from the town of Liberia. Officials canceled the initial tsunami warning and local police surpervisor Jose Angel Gonzales, said to ABC News that about 5,000 people or 80 percent of the population in the coastal towns in the Samara district had been evacuated. The earthquake struck at 8:42 a.m. local time.
Erich Johnning, 30, who works in San Jose in Internet Marketing said to Reuters, "I was inside my car at a stop sign and all the sudden everything started shaking. I thought the street was going to break in two.
Immediately I saw dozens of people running out of their homes and office buildings."
The original Tsunami warning was issued for the Pacific coastlines of Costa Rica, Panama and Nicaragua but then was later canceled.
The U.S. Geological Survey said that the quake was felt as far away as Nicaragua and Panama.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
