The G-Spot

On January 8^th, 2009, at about 1pm, an earthquake woke up Costa Rica. I was home with my mother-in-law and her son when it hit, the earth was shaking very hard and it lasted for what seemed to be an eternity. We ran to the laundry room, probably the safest room in my house and waited until it was over. After that, we walked to the living room, with our legs shaking, and turned on the TV to hear the news.

The 6.2 earthquake’s epicenter was the little rural town of Cinchona, Alajuela, really close to the Poas volcano and the La Paz waterfall, two of the most popular tourist attractions in this country. There were no damages to my house, so I thought it was just a big tremor, nothing serious and turned off the TV and continued with my day. I was wrong.

It took us a couple days to realize the magnitude of the tragedy. At least 30 people lost their lives and 20,000 families lost their homes and business and are now living in shelters. There are at least 20 people missing, farms are destroyed and farm animals are dead or left homeless with no food or shelter. Hundreds of dogs and cats were abandoned by their owners. Everywhere you look, all you see is chaos.

Tremors and earthquakes are not new to Costa Rica, we “ticos” are used to feeling the floor shake here and there every once in a while, however, we haven’t experience an earthquake since 1991, when a 7.3 quake destroyed the city of Limon in 37 seconds.

I decided to write this post mainly to thank Costa Ricans for their solidarity towards our brothers and sisters who are in need today. TV and radio stations, local hospitals and NGO’S around the country have done a great job collecting donations of money, food, clothes, household supplies and even pet supplies. People around the country are volunteering to go help the Cinchona community and almost every neighborhood has gathered their people together to collect supplies and help out. Colombia and the USA sent military help and helicopters to reach the affected areas. It’s been three weeks since the tragedy, and all I see today are people still willing to help.

I feel so proud to see so much solidarity and sensitivity around me; it makes me think that no matter how corrupted our world is, we can still trust in humanity. I wish we didn’t have to wait for a tragedy to happen to be willing to help. Wouldn’t it be great to apply the same earthquake relief efforts to help solve other problems like poverty and hunger around the world? Maybe it’s just a utopia, but just as Shannon Hoon, former singer of Blind Melon once said “Keep on dreaming because when you stop dreaming is time to die”.

These are pictures taken before and after the earthquake at La Paz waterfall. The pictures where taken by the Seismology and Vulcanology Observatory Center of Costa Rica. The before picture was taken on January 11, 2007, while the after picture was taken on January 09, 2009, a day after the earthquake.