NOSARA, COSTA RICA (NEWS1130) – A powerful, magnitude-7.6 earthquake shook Costa Rica and a wide swath of Central America today, collapsing some houses, blocking highways and causing panic, but there were no reports of deaths.

The USGS said the 7:42 a.m. PDT quake struck about 60 kilometres from the town of Liberia. It was centred about 41 kilometres below the surface. The magnitude initially was estimated at 7.9.

In the town of Hojancha a few kilometres from the epicentre, the city’s Kenia Campos said the quake knocked down some houses and landslides blocked several roads.

“So far, we don’t have victims,” she said. “People were really scared … We have had moderate quakes but an earthquake [this strong] hadn’t happened in more than 50 years.”

A preliminary review revealed some structural damage near the epicentre, but no reports of deaths or injuries, said Douglas Salgado, a geographer with Costa Rica’s National Commission of Risk Prevention and Emergency Attention.

The review also uncovered a landslide on the main highway that connects the capital of San Jose to the Pacific coast city of Puntarenas. Hotels and other structures suffered cracks in walls and saw items knocked off shelves.

“There’s chaos in San Jose because it was a strong earthquake of long duration,” Salgado said. “It was pretty strong and caused collective chaos.”

Michelle Landwer, owner of the Belvedere Hotel in Samara, north of the epicentre, said she was having breakfast with about 10 people when the earthquake struck.

“The whole building was moving, I couldn’t even walk,” Landwer said. “Here in my building there was no real damage. Everything was falling, like glasses and everything.”

In the coastal town of Nosara, roughly 80 kilometres north of the epicentre, trees shook violently and light posts swayed. Teachers chased primary school students outside as the quake hit. Roads cracked and power lines fell to the ground.

A tsunami warning was in effect for Costa Rica, Panama and Nicaragua. It said it was unknown if a tsunami was generated, but the warning was based on the size of the earthquake.