Saturday 10 January 2009, San José, Costa
Rica
Death Toll Rises To
30,
100 More Still
Missing
Tourists Evacuated After
Fatal Quake
You Too Can Help
Cinchona
Completely Disappears Off The Map
Armed Forces
Lower
Inflation Expected In
2009
Pizzeria Staff Takes
Savings to Costa Rica
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Tourists Evacuated After
Fatal Quake
Rescue helicopters hired
by the Comision Nacional
de Emergencias (CNE) -
national emergency
commission - picked up
stranded tourists on
Friday from the
picturesque volcanic
area of Costa Rica.
The tourists from the
United States, Canada,
France, Spain and
various other countries
were stranded in the La
Paz Waterfall Gardens
after the 6.2 quake
jolted the mountain area
Thursday afternoon.
The tremor destroyed
roads leading to and
from the gardens and
other areas Vara Blanca,
Alajuela, and
helicopters were the
only way in and out.
"There are landslides on
all the roads," said
Guillermo Schwartz, a
tourist from Guatemala.
"The helicopters are
trying to get people to
the airport in San
Jose."
"It was terrifying,"
said Spanish tourist
Nazario Llinarez, 50,
who described how he was
at the waterfall with
his wife when part of
the hillside collapsed.
The couple scrambled up
a slope and spent the
night huddled in a bus
before being evacuated
by helicopter.
Constant aftershocks
complicated the rescue
effort, and aerial
photos showed collapsed
buildings and huge
swathes of reddish earth
where chunks of hillside
had fallen away.
Some tourists suffered
broken limbs and
bruising when falling
rock hit houses, cars
and a hotel next to the
thundering waterfall
deep in the jungle.
The landslides
devastated the Poas
Volcano National Park
and tore apart a road
leading down to the La
Paz waterfall, leaving
hundreds of tourists and
locals to spend a chilly
night trapped in the
valley at Vara Blanca.
Trapped tourists said
they lit bonfires
overnight to keep warm.
Landslides left buses
tipped on their sides
and several bridges in
the area were destroyed. |
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