I just experienced my 2nd earthquake a few days ago (Oct 11 to be precise). The epicenter was only 20 miles from our house, near Zarcero, which is close to Poas Volcano.

The two plates underneath Costa Rica are the Cocos Plate (Pacific side) and the Caribbean Plate, which are constantly pushing in to each other. As the Cocos Plate slides underneath the Caribbean Plate, energy builds up and is released, causing volcanoes to erupt and the earth to shake.
I was sitting upstairs in our office when everything started to sway back and forth in a strong, fluid motion for what felt like an eternity. I stayed where I was, preparing to dive under the desk if the shaking got any rougher. Lucky for us, it didn’t, and as soon as it teetered off, I ran outside to check on the neighbors and share in the buzz and excitement that follows an earthquake. Everyone was okay – the only side effects were this blog post and my wobbly legs for the remainder of the evening…and maybe for a few days after.
There is a price to living in paradise – earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, heavy rains with flooding and landslides. It’s humbling, to say the least, and it’s a result of living on top of converging tectonic plates near the equator. The volcanic eruptions are mostly subtle or distant, the landslides affect our roads and those living on hills, but the earthquakes affect everyone, everywhere. So in moving to Julio’s house in Costa Rica, I traded hurricanes for earthquakes. I can’t say one is worse than the other, but at least there are warnings when a hurricane is en route. With earthquakes, they just happen. I thought maybe I would benefit from some sort of “earthquake-is-coming” signal from the dogs, but no, Mocha and Pelulu behave normal before, during, and after. Dog FAIL. Or maybe their non-reaction has something to do with the fact that there are measurable earthquakes here in Costa Rica every few days – did they grow accustomed to the feeling?
I most certainly have not and my instinct to dive under the desk didn’t come naturally. I read about it after my 1st quake experience in which I was completely confused as what to do, yet joyfully riding it out like a fun ride at the county fair. Here is a link to the mac daddy website I found that has extensive information on what to do during an earthquake in any situation. I also take comfort in knowing that the Costa Rican government has contemporary earthquake building codes and the structures here are built to withstand fluctuations in the earth.

You can see here how one side of this mountain fell down during the earthquake, covering up what use to be a very wide road, and changing the landscape forever.
Still, it is important to keep in mind that not all earthquakes pass without causing damage. I recently visited La Paz Waterfall Gardens for the 1st time after the terrible January 2009 earthquake. Much of the landscape there has changed due to the quake and they are still working on reconstruction within the park. La Paz is also near Poas Volcano. It’s incredible to me to think about how close we are to the center of so much destruction, yet our tiny flat piece of land has held our house up for almost 40 years (knock on wood).
Wow! So glad to have run across you on TBEX and to visit your site — 🙂 We love your photography and as wildlife biologists, of course your scientific descriptions of everything – excited to follow your adventures in such a beautiful beautiful country and looking forward to browsing the archives!
http://www.benandcarrietracks.blogspot.com
Thanks Ben and Carrie! I’m looking forward to following your journey as well – sounds exciting!
Just ran across a comment you made on a story I wrote for Nomadic Matt. So happy to hear you’re living in Costa Rica!! I looooved my time there. (If I’d had a Tico fiance, I just might’ve stayed forever.) Good luck!
Thanks Abby! I’ll be following your story to see how your integration back into the US goes, hopefully we never lose pura vida!
I always thought you are supposed to head for a doorway, but now I see from that website that this is a myth.
@Lily – You’re not trippin’ because I remember learning that in school, too. It’s just that as time has passed, scientists studied structures that collapsed or survived earthquakes. The results of these studies show that standing in a doorway is not a good idea since most people get hurt from flying objects…and also from trying to move during the shaking.
side note: I just saw a Costa Rican commercial that instructs kids on how to behave during an earthquake: 1) Remain calm. 2) Grab your first aid kit. 3) Jump out of your tree house. LOL
Yeah, I don’t think dogs are ever to helpful in predicting earthquakes. The last decent sized one we had here – I live just south of San Francisco – my dog hid behind our friend, who was sitting on the couch…haha…and he stayed there for like 30 minutes after. Big ones can be scary, but you get used to rest of them – though I would totally love an earthquake warning system too!
That web site left out one important to-do (which you did *not* do). That is, when the shaking starts do not wait even a second to see if it’s going to get stronger or not. Take cover (unless you’re in bed, then stay put) right away, because when a really big one does hit you may not be able to even dive for cover let alone walk to it. Big ones hit really, really fast.
Cheers!
Casey you are so right and I need to work on my response time. We have had a couple more since I posted this and each time I start to move only after the 1st big jolt. :/
Earthquakes are so common in Central America! I hate them! Luckily we haven’t had a tragic one like the one in Guatemala during the 70s for several years.
eeks yeah. I don’t even want to think about the possibility of that happening again 🙁