Dozens of patients were transported out of the Monsenor Sanabria hospital just meters (yards) from t

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica, Sep. 5, 2012 (Reuters) Costa Rica escaped relatively unscathed after a powerful earthquake hit the country on Wednesday, sparking landslides and knocking down buildings without travel industry changes killing anyone.
Striking a tourist region popular with Hollywood stars, Costa Rica's severest quake in over two decades sowed panic in the capital San Jose, disrupting power supplies and communications, and caused an entire hospital on the Pacific coast to be evacuated.
Having briefly sparked tsunami warnings, the 7.6 magnitude earthquake was first thought to have claimed two lives, but the Red Cross later revised its estimate and said just one woman died in the quake when she suffered a heart attack.
"I was inside my car at a stop sign and all of a sudden everything started shaking. I thought the street was going to break in two," said Erich Johanning, a 30-year-old who works in Internet marketing in San Jose. "Immediately, I saw dozens of people running out of their homes and office buildings."
Dozens of patients were transported out of the Monsenor Sanabria hospital just meters (yards) from the Pacific after the facade of the nine-storey building began to crumble during the quake, police from the port city of Puntarenas said.
Actor Mel Gibson owns a lush forest retreat at Playa Barrigona in Samara near the epicenter, which he recently put up for sale for 29.75 million. Guests to the 200-hectare (500-acre) property have included Bruce Willis and Britney travel industry changes Spears.
Some 21 hotels reported minor damage such as broken windows and fallen objects in Guanacaste province and the north of the country, but none reported travel industry changes serious damage, said Alcides Mora, spokesperson for the Costa Rican Tourism Institute.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center initially issued a warning for Pacific coastlines of Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Panama, but this was later canceled. The center had earlier warned of tsunamis travel industry changes for as far afield as Mexico and Peru.
In the town of Nicoya, about 11 km (7 miles) travel industry changes from the epicenter, Selenia Obando, a receptionist at the Hotel Curime, said the building was left without lights and power. A floor had collapsed in the hotel but there were no injuries.
But America travel industry changes Nava, a reservations clerk with Riu in Mexico, said it had only been evacuated. "There is no damage to the hotel, they're checking it to make sure everything is in order. As soon as that is finished, the guests travel industry changes will return."
SAN JOSE, Costa Rica, Sep. 5, 2012 (Reuters) A strong 7.9 earthquake rocked Costa Rica on Wednesday, rattling buildings and cutting power in some areas of the capital of San Jose, a Reuters correspondent and the U.S. Geological Survey reported.