Patients of the Hospital Calderon Guardia in San Jose are evacuated after a powerful 7.6-magnitude earthquake struck near the Pacific coast of Costa Rica on Sept. 5. briefly knocking out power and communications and triggering tsunami warnings.

People gather in front of the Supreme Court, after being evacuated from their buildings following an earthquake in San Jose, Costa Rica on Sept. 5.. A 7.9 magnitude earthquake struck northwestern Costa Rica according to the U.S. Geological Survey said.

A handout picture provided by the Red Cross on Sept. 5 shows damage on the church in Nandayure, Costa Rica, near the epicenter of the earthquake of magnitude 6.7 on the Richter scale that rocked Costa Rica at 08.42 local time (1442 GMT). A strong earthquake off the west coast of Costa Rica has prompted a tsunami warning, US officials said. The US Geological Survey later downgraded the strength of the earthquake to 7.6 magnitude from an earlier estimate of 7.9. The quake occurred at 1442 GMT about eight kilometres north-east of Samara and 151 kilometres west of the capital San Jose. No one was immediately reported injured, the Red Cross said, and damage caused by the quake in Costa Rica was believed to be relatively minor.

Norway's women's team runs the rapids in the downriver competition at the Costa Rica 2011 World Rafting Championships, in the Pacuare river in Turrialba, 50 miles east of San Jose, Oct. 10. Thirty-two countries are taking part in the World Rafting Championships.

The rafting team of Finland runs a section of rapids in the Downriver event at the Rafting World Championships near Turrialba, east of the capital of San Jose, Costa Rica, on October 10.

Olive ridley sea turtles (Lepidochelys olivacea) arrive to spawn in Ostional beach, in Ostional National Wildlife Refuge, about 186 miles north of San Jose, on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica, at sunset on November 30, 2010. Massive arrivals of sea turtles, known as "Arribadas", happen in Ostional and members of the Integral Development Association of Ostional estimate that about 800 thousand may arrive this year to lay their eggs.