Earthquakes

Just off the coast of the South-West boarder of Costa Rica, in the Pacific Ocean, is where the Cocos Plate is subducting under the Caribbean Plate. Due to the location of these tectonic plates, it is this area of Costa Rica that experiences the most earthquakes. Accoriding to the IRIS monitoring website, the most recent earthquake to take place in Costa Rica happened on Febuary 13, and it had a 4.5 magnitude.  In the area surrounding San José, Costa Rica's capital, there is the most potential for a higher magnitude earthquake. Even though this are of COsta Rica has the highest potential to experience the most damage, the entire country has a high change of experiencing earthquakes.



Due to the frecuency of earthquakes in Costa Rica, they have new policies to reduce the damage to the people and tourist of Costa Rica. They have began to build structures to "prevent" them from collapsing in the event of an earthquake, as well as not instulling natural gas lines, to prevent unnecessary fires. The building that are not having natural gas lines installed are mostly tourist destinations. In July of 2018, it was reported that Costa Rica was doing trial runs of implementing an Earthquake Early Warning System. This would allow any citizen with a smartphone ot recieve alerts, when an earthquake could erupt.


References:
https://www.delapuravida.com/2011/powerful-6-0-friday-the-13th-earthquake-in-costa-rica/
http://ds.iris.edu/seismon/zoom/index.phtml?rgn=Central_America
https://costa-rica-guide.com/travel/health-safety/natural-disasters/
https://news.co.cr/costa-rica-could-soon-have-an-earthquake-early-warning-system/74618/

Tectonic Plates

Costa Rica is located on the overlapping area of the Cocos Tectonic Plate and the Caribbean Plate, which created a convergent boundary. Due to the Cocos Plate moving under the Caribbean Plate, it has resulted in the formation of a volcanic arc in Costa Rica. The subduction zone in Costa Rica is the cause of the volcanic arc, that is shown in the picture to the left. Another effect of these plates is earthquakes, which Costa Rica can experience many earthquakes a year. In 2018, over 200 earthquakes with a magnitude of 3.8 or higher, was recorded in Costa Rica. 

The south-west area of Costa Rica is located near the border of the two tectonic plates. These colliding plates are known as a convergent boundary. The types of plates that are colliding are ocean-continent plates, which means the Cocos Plate is moving under the Caribbean Plate. This type of plate boundary often is the cause of volcanic formation, earthquakes, tsunamis, and flooding.





References:
https://geology.com/volcanoes/arenal/
https://www.volcanodiscovery.com/earthquakes/costarica/archive/2018.html
Keller, Edward A., and Duane Edward DeVecchio. Natural Hazards. 4th ed., Pearson Education,
       2014.

Natural Hazards: A natural hazard is defined as an extreme event that occurs naturally and causes harm to humans or to other things that we care about. Natural hazards that are common in Costa Rica include flooding, volcanic activity, and earthquakes.

Natural Disasters: A natural disaster is defined as a sudden and terrible event in nature (such as a hurricane, tornado, or flood) that usually results in serious damage and many deaths. Some of the most common natural disasters occurring in Costa Rica are flooding and hurricanes. 

Catastrophe: A catastrophe is defined as a momentous tragic event ranging from extreme misfortune to utter overthrow or ruin.