M6.1 earthquake hits Costa Rica while M6.5 strikes off Indonesia along the extreme active Ring of Fire

4

Two quakes with magnitudes higher than 6.0 struck Costa Rica (M6.1) and Indonesia (M6.5) within less than 8 hours on August 17, 2018, another very active day on the Ring of Fire.

A strong M6.1 earthquake shook southern Costa Rica at 5:22 p.m. local time at a depth of about 12 miles, on Friday evening, toppling items from store shelves and knocking out power in places. The epicenter was about 12 miles north of the town of Golfito, near the Panama border. The quake was felt strongly in the region.

M6.1 earthquake costa rica, M6.1 earthquake costa rica video, M6.1 earthquake costa rica pictures, M6.1 earthquake costa rica august 2018
A M6.1 earthquake hit Costa Rica on August 17, 2018

In Panama, the quake was felt strongly in the border provinces of Chiriqui and Bocas del Toro, though there were no immediate reports of damage. It was also felt at a stadium in the city of David, where a youth baseball championship game was being played, but play was not halted.

There are reports saying that in Puerto Jimenez the power was out and some power poles toppled. Aftershocks – at least one with a magnitude of 4.9 – were felt in the minutes afterward.

Costa Rica’s National System for Monitoring Tsunamis ruled out a tsunami alert.

M6.1 earthquake costa rica, M6.1 earthquake costa rica video, M6.1 earthquake costa rica pictures, M6.1 earthquake costa rica august 2018
Consequences of the M6.1 earthquake in Costa Rica on August 17, 2018. via Twitter
M6.1 earthquake costa rica, M6.1 earthquake costa rica video, M6.1 earthquake costa rica pictures, M6.1 earthquake costa rica august 2018
Consequences of the M6.1 earthquake in Costa Rica on August 17, 2018. via Twitter

A few hours before a relatively deep offshore earthquake struck the Indonesian archipelago, 153km north-east of Raba at a depth of 564.7km. BMKG said there was no tsunami risk.

M6.5 earthquake indonesia, M6.5 earthquake indonesia map, M6.5 earthquake indonesia video
A M6.5 earthquake hit off Indonesia on August 17, 2018

Some reports say the quake was felt in Bali, about 580 km from Raba.

The epicentre of Friday’s quake was around 500km from the island of Lombok, where two deadly tremors – and dozens of aftershocks – wreaked widespread damage earlier in the month.

Indonesia and Costa Rica see frequent earthquakes as they sit on the Ring of Fire.

Follow us: Facebook and Twitter

M 6.5 – 109km NNW of Kampungbajo, Indonesia
M 6.1 – 17km N of Golfito, Costa Rica
Viva Noticias – Alerta: Fuerte terremoto sacude a Costa Rica y logra sentirse en Panamá
LA Times – Strong earthquake shakes southern Costa Rica
Channel News Asia – Magnitude-6.6 quake hits north-east of Raba, Indonesia: USGS

4 Comments

Leave a reply

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.