524 Earthquakes...

shake Costa Rica in May - can you imagine?

During the month of May, 524 earthquakes were felt in Costa Rica, a “considerable increase” over April’s 330 earthquakes, according to a statement released yesterday by the Volcanological and Seismological Observatory of Costa Rica (OVSICORI), based at Universidad Nacional (UNA), in Heredia, north of San José.

The increase in seismic activity was mostly in the Southern Zone, especially the Burica Peninsula, where 300 earthquakes were registered, though only eight were felt by residents there.

The Southern Zone contains the Coco and Nazca tectonic plates, which extend into northern Panama and have a system of fractures that create frequent seismic activity, the statement said.

Despite the impressive number of earthquakes, the observatory said in the statement that “we consider the seismic activity in May completely normal… This seismic activity continues to diminish in quantity and magnitude.”

In May, earthquakes measuring between 3.1 and 5.0 on the Richter scale were felt in the Southern Zone’s Ciudad Neilly, Punta Burica and San Isidro del General, as well as and outside Puerto Armuelles in northwestern Panama.