Costa Rica was shaken during the early hours of Monday by two consecutive earthquakes, with magnitudes of 5.4 and 4.8, according to the National Seismological Network of the University of Costa Rica.
The tremors occurred just two minutes apart. The first struck at 1:37 a.m. local time, with its epicenter located about 10 kilometers north of Cascajal, in San José province, at a depth of 11 kilometers.
The U.S. Geological Survey, meanwhile, reported the first earthquake at magnitude 4.9.
Local researchers subsequently reported additional, smaller aftershocks.
The National Seismological Network said the earthquakes were caused by “faulting in the crust of the Caribbean and Panama plates.” Costa Rica sits within a complex tectonic setting where the Caribbean continental plate meets the Panama microplate, creating a network of active small and medium-sized faults across the country.
The earthquakes occurred just days after a magnitude 7.2 earthquake in Peru, which left three people injured, and a powerful earthquake in Colombia that caused hundreds of fatalities.
