Living with Earthquakes and Living Now!

Call me crazy but I have come to accept the regular earthquake tremors that we experience in this part of the world.

Northern Panama’s earthquake (6 on the Richter scale) that Christmas morning a few years ago at 1.15am certainly woke me up with a shake, rattle and roll!

Obviously we don’t want to see anyone suffer and thankfully it has been a very long time since any major, devastating earthquake activity in Costa Rica.

For me, it is a reminder of the incredible power of nature and the impermanence of life itself. Since moving to Costa Rica I have lived a much healthier, outdoor life and more than ever, I appreciate what’s truly important in my life right now! Today!

For Costa Ricans, it is all about living in the now. Like you and I, they have similar dreams for the future but the Ticos (the Costa Rican people) do have a slightly different concept of time and space.

They are more focused on enjoying life today than any of the Europeans and North Americans I know. This can be frustrating if you don’t accept that people are different but once you do accept it, you also begin to relax more and enjoy the moment.

In many parts of the world, we must plan for extreme weather or we could freeze to death or even starve! This does not apply to Costa Rica though… I don’t think there are any well populated areas where you can freeze and since we don’t need to plan for blizzards and we definitely can not plan for earthquakes – why worry?

If we don’t get round to doing it today because we’re just too busy enjoying ourselves, we can do it mañana (tomorrow).

After the strong earthquakes of Golfito and San Isidro in 1983, in 1984 a program was started at the University of Costa Rica’s Engineering Research Institute (INII) with the purpose of identifying the areas prone to the occurrence of large earthquakes.

In 1989 the earthquake engineering laboratory (Laboratorio de Ingenieria Sismica, LIS) was formally established as an extension of that program at the INII to conduct studies in the fields of earthquake engineering and strong-motion seismology.

The goal was to mitigate the destructive effects due to future earthquakes in the country through the development of research programs and teaching and they’ve got a great website here where you can see the data for each earthquake that occurs…

We take it to extremes in the fast-paced, civilized and developed world because we rarely seem to be living in the present and we’re always looking forward to that day sometime in the distant future when we can finally live the life we’ve always dreamed of.

• “When we retire, we’re not going to be as stressed out as we are now….”
• “In a few years, we’re going to have more time to spend with each other …”
• “When we’re retired, we’ll be able to spend more time with our children and our grandchildren.”

But that’s ‘if’ it happens that way…. That’s ‘if‘ we are both healthy… That’s ‘if‘ Social Security will be there for us and some corporate scumbag doesn’t manage to steal or bankrupt our company’s pension plan…

It is important to plan for the future but surely it is more important to look forward to and enjoy every single day?

Whether we label this with a negative term like short-term thinking rather than a positive term like enjoying the moment is up to us but as far as I can see there are a lot more people smiling in Costa Rica than anywhere else I have ever lived …

I’m smiling more too!

We have only now, only this single eternal moment opening and unfolding before us, day and night.” Jack Kornfield….

PS. Talking about being civilized… When asked what he thought of Western civilization, Mahatma Ghandi replied: “I think it would be a good idea.”

[custom_script adID=97]

Written by Scott Oliver, author of How To Buy Costa Rica Real Estate Without Losing Your Camisa and Costa Rica’s Guide To Making Money Offshore.

Costa Rica Earthquake Reports:

1. For more information about earthquakes in Costa Rica, please see the University of Costa Rica’s Engineering Research Institute Laboratorio de Ingenieria Sismica, LIS here.
2. The Universidad de Costa Rica Red Sismológica Nacional website here.
3. Most recent earthquake reports are here.
4. You can also see photos of volcanos, eruptions and earthquake damage here.

If you have a serious interest in buying real estate and would like a highly recommended and trustworthy Costa Rica Realtor to help you, please choose from the two options below:

1. Our free Help-U-Search service has helped thousands of VIP Members to find their dream home in Costa Rica. The only people recommended are people who are personally known and trusted by Scott Oliver, author of How To Buy Costa Rica Real Estate Without Losing Your Camisa. If you would like Scott to recommend one of our preferred Costa Rica Realtors to you now, please visit Help-U-Search. Or…
2. You can also read about Costa Rica’s most recommended Realtors here.

Andrew Makarik

to@welovecostarica.com

Andrew Makarik is the main editor of WeLoveCostaRica, a fan of this sunny country. He is also a loving husband and a has a lovely daughter. By being a devoted family man and the biggest Costa Rica fan, he wants to make more people feel at home there. WeLoveCostaRica unites people and helps them find new home or a new travel destination. This website is a friendly community where everyone can find not only information, but also new friends and travel pals. Andrew is also passionate about IT and programming, so he himself maintains a friendly atmosphere in this cozy environment of WeLoveCostaRica.com.