05/19/2026
The ground just doesn’t seem to stop moving lately 🌎
Over the last couple of days, Costa Rica’s central Pacific coast has been experiencing an active seismic sequence centered near Playa Hermosa, about 5 km south of Jacó.
The sequence began with the magnitude 5.4 earthquake felt Wednesday morning at 10:22 AM, followed by a magnitude 4.8 later that same night at 9:36 PM, tonight’s 4.3 earthquake, and multiple additional aftershocks mostly ranging between magnitudes 3.8 and 4.0.
According to the RSN, at least 14 important earthquakes have already been located in the area, along with dozens of smaller microsismos happening between offshore areas and the coastline near Playa Hermosa and Herradura.
Most of these earthquakes have been happening at relatively shallow depths, between approximately 5 and 22 km deep, which is one reason many of them have felt so strong even when the magnitudes were smaller.
Scientists believe this activity appears to come from a shallow local fault near Playa Hermosa inside the Caribbean Plate, and not directly from the main offshore tectonic plate boundary where the Coco Plate dives beneath Costa Rica.
A lot of people have been saying the earthquakes feel stronger than the numbers being reported, but according to the RSN, shallow earthquakes closer to the surface can feel much more intense locally than deeper ones.
As for whether another one is coming, earthquakes can’t be predicted. But after a stronger earthquake, aftershocks can continue for days or even weeks while the area slowly releases energy.
One thing that has caught scientists’ attention is that there is no historical record of a major earthquake sequence happening exactly in this same Playa Hermosa–Herradura area, which is part of why this activity has felt so unusual to so many people.
