The Philip B. Petersen Collection Broadcast June 5, 1991

     "I was home at the time and felt a severe shock-wave, then the lights went out," was the comment made by a radio amateur in Costa Rica who, for the next several days, had his station on the air handling emergency radio communications for relief organizations and government officials.
     On the 22nd of April, 1991, an earthquake registering 7.4 on the Richter scale struck the Caribbean coastal area of Costa Rica and Panama.  The port city of Limon, with a population of over 125,000, was near the epicenter and severely damaged.  The International Hotel collapsed into a pile of rubble.  Fearful of a tidal wave when the water level along the coast suddenly dropped ten feet, thousands fled to higher ground.  Much of the area was without electricity, water and telephone service.  Hundreds of homes were totally destroyed, leaving thousands homeless.  Roads, bridges and railroad tracks were not useable, making it difficult to bring in outside emergency aid, except by air.
     George, TI4NJ, an American who lives near San Jose, Costa Rica, describes some of the devastation:

     "The only thing I can say is it was terrible.  If you should see from the air, pictures taken from choppers, the area from the frontier with Panama and Costa Rica at the coast along the highway, you wouldn't believe what you're looking at.  The highway opened up with cracks, most of it in the middle, with cracks big enough to put a tractor-trailer into and hide it.  You can't believe what you're looking at.  At one place the railroad is running along, all of a sudden the rails are standing there, underneath the ground just fell away.  Down some distance, I could see the bottom.
     "The people in that area are out with what furniture they still might have, making make-shift shelters with bamboo and cardboard cartons out in the fields to get out from under the possibility of anything falling on them.  You can't believe what you're looking at.  Somebody went through there with a giant bulldozer.  In other words, you have to be careful where you step or you will fall into one of the crevices.  All of the bridges from the Panama frontier up to the port of Limon are out, I mean O-U-T out."

     Emergency help and supplies were flown into the isolated areas from several countries.  As the news spread, radio amateurs were deluged with requests about relatives and friends, which continued for days until the regular telephone service could be restored.
     At least 79 people died in Costa Rica and Panama, over 800 were injured, and thousands were left homeless.  It no doubt will be many months before life will again return to normal.

June 5, 1991

** Broadcasts recordings preserved and presented here by Mr. Robert Buss and Mr. Bernie Ricciardi, Phil's friends and fellow Marconi Chapter 138 QCWA members **

Page updated January 24, 2004  page created June 11, 2001