Twin Quakes --5.5 and 6.9--Jolt Costa Rica

Two strong earthquakes rocked Costa Rica on Sunday, damaging buildings, causing landslides and sending panic-stricken people into the streets. Six people were reported injured.

The quakes, measuring magnitude 5.5 and 6.9, struck at 7:16 a.m. (11:16 a.m. PST) and 7:23 a.m., according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

The epicenter of the quakes was located in the Pacific Ocean, 80 miles southwest of San Jose.

The two quakes, which were felt across all of Costa Rica and in Panama’s Chiriqui province, were followed by about 150 aftershocks, authorities said.

People in San Jose and other cities rushed out of homes and buildings as the structures rocked violently. Many terrified people huddled in the capital’s streets and parks waiting for the earth to stop trembling.

The quakes caused a power failure for 45 minutes in San Jose and interrupted telephone service and water supplies.

The main highway linking San Jose with the Atlantic coast was blocked by several landslides, and police ordered traffic halted until further notice.

Six people were treated at hospitals but no deaths were reported, Victor Obando, coordinator of the Costa Rican Emergency Commission, said.

The twin shocks caused considerable damage to a number of buildings in the capital, Red Cross and fire brigade officials said in San Jose.

A water boiler exploded and walls cracked at the Hotel Balmoral during the earthquakes, forcing the evacuation of hotel guests. Walls also cracked at the La Merced Roman Catholic Church, one of the capital’s oldest buildings.

About 60 patients were evacuated as a safety precaution from the Sanabria Hospital in the city of Puntarenas, and an enormous metal cross atop the Ajuelita Hill in San Jose fell during the quake.

The quakes were the strongest in the nation since 1983, when a pair of temblors with magnitudes of 6.2 and 7.3 rattled southern Costa Rica, causing widespread panic but no casualties.