Major earthquake hits Costa Rica - Valley News Live - KVLY/KXJB - Fargo/Grand Forks

A major earthquake hit northwestern Costa Rica on Wednesday, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

The quake -- initially given a magnitude of 7.9 but then revised to 7.6 -- struck at 10:42 a.m. ET at a depth of about 25 miles and about seven miles southeast of Nicoya, a town of some 15,000 people on a coastal area on the Pacific about 90 miles from the capital San Jose.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued tsunami warnings for Costa Rica, Panama and Nicaragua, after initially issuing warnings for a much larger area.

"It is not known that a tsunami was generated. This warning is based only on the earthquake evaluation. An earthquake of this size has the potential to generate a destructive tsunami that can strike coastlines near the epicenter within minutes and more distant coastlines within hours," the PTWC said.

Reuters reported that power was cut in some areas of the capital of San Jose, where buildings shook because of the quake. In the coastal town of Nosara in northwest Costa Rica, The Associated Press said trees shook violently and light posts swayed. Teachers chased primary school students outside. 

At 11:25 a.m. ET, the USGS said it had received 101 reports from people in places from El Salvador to Panama who said they had felt the ground shaking.

The USGS said that "overall, the population in this region resides in structures that are vulnerable to earthquake shaking, though some resistant structures exist."