Costa Rica Earthquake

News from the earthquake disaster that hit small Central American nation of Costa Rica on Thursday the 8th of January is starting to filter out.

Details issued by the Radio Club de Costa Rica (RCCR) advises that Costa Rica’s radio amateurs have been using HF for communication links using frequencies of both 7075 and 7090 kHz.

The re-establishment of the Echolink node TI0RC-R has served the nation’s hams well enabling some welfare traffic and news of the prevailing situation to be handled.

When the main earthquake struck registering 6.2 on the Ritcher ssale on Thursday the 8th of January it jolted mountain villages about 35 km northwest of the capital of San Jose triggering landslides.

The death toll is 20 with a number reporting missing, some 100 were injured and many left homeless. A great number of after-shocks have been reported while rescue efforts continue.

The RCCR quoting official sources said a shuttle exercise involving helicopters has rescued numerous people from the worst affected areas.

Among the infrastructure damaged particularly in the rugged isolated areas includes electric power, highways, roads, bridges and aqueducts. The total repair cost has been put at $100 million which is significant when the size of the country is taken into account.

The RCCR hoped to issue a further information bulletin in coming days.

(RCCR via IARU Region 2 Emergency Communications Coordinator Cesar Pio Santos HR2P)

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