April 22, 1991 Earthquake: Limon, Pandora, Panama, Costa Rica
A magnitude 7.6 earthquake struck Limon, Pandora, Panama, Costa Rica on April 22, 1991 at 21:56:51 UTC, 10 km below the surface. It killed 90 people, counting the tsunami it caused.
Map
Where it struck, with the other significant earthquakes within 200 km. Circles are sized and colored by magnitude; select one for its page.
The earthquake
- Date
- April 22, 1991
- Time
- 21:56:51 UTC
- Place
- Limon, Pandora, Panama, Costa Rica
- Magnitude
- 7.6 (Mw)
- Focal depth
- 10 km (6 mi)
- Intensity
- 10 on the Modified Mercalli scale
- Tsunami
- Yes: the tsunami it caused
- Epicenter
- 9.685° N, 83.073° W
- Country
- Costa Rica
The toll
- Deaths
- 87; 90 with its tsunami and other effects
- Injuries
- 895
- Damage
- $510 million
- Houses destroyed
- Many (101 to 1,000)
Where the literature gives no number, NCEI records a description on a scale of 1 to 4, printed here in its words. Damage is in millions of US dollars of the year of the event, not adjusted for inflation.
What the record says
NCEI’s account, from the sources it cites.
34 deaths and 596 injured from earthquake as well as 800 houses destroyed in Bocas del Toro and Chiriqui, Panama. 53 dead and 299 injured from earthquake, as well as infrastructure damages in Costa Rica. (reference #1280)
The earthquake caused damage from Bocas del Toro, Panama, to Batan and Turrialba, Costa Rica (Bermudez Leon, 2000). There were landslides in the Cordillera de Talamanca and minor damage in Valle Central. The PDE (1991) reported that landslides blocked roads between Limon and central Costa Rica. Earthquake also felt in Nicaragua and Honduras, and on San Andres Island, Colombia. Maximum uplift of 1.4 meters was observed near Limon and sandblows and liquefaction caused subsidence of soils in the Bocas del Toro area. Ground cracks also occurred in the epicentral area. About 10,000 were homeless from the destruction. A tsunami was generated from this event.
Other significant earthquakes nearby
Within 200 km, the deadliest first.
- May 4, 1910, Cartago, San Jose, Costa Rica
- December 30, 1952, Costa Rica
- January 8, 2009, La Paz, Costa Rica
- September 1, 1955, Costa Rica
- November 20, 2004, San Jose, Parrita, Quepos, Costa Rica
- December 5, 1941, Costa Rica-Panama
- April 3, 1983, W, SE, Panama, Costa Rica
- July 10, 1993, Turrialba, Cartago, Costa Rica
- July 3, 1983, San Jose, Costa Rica
- December 22, 1990, Alajuela, Santiago DE Puriscal, Costa Rica
- December 25, 2003, Puerto Armuelles, Panama-Costa Rica
- November 13, 2017, Jaco, Costa Rica
- May 7, 1822, Matina, Costa Rica
- 1746, Matina, Costa Rica
- February 22, 1798, Matina, Costa Rica
More
Significant earthquakes of 1991The 1900sEvery quake the USGS located in 1991Recent earthquakes near hereThis day in weather history
Sources
Significant earthquakes from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information, Global Historical Hazard Database, cited as NCEI/WDS, doi:10.7289/V5PN93H7. Public domain. Read 2026-09-24. NCEI earthquake 5282.