Costa Rica

Costa Rica is a country located in Central America, bordered by Panama, Nicaragua, the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea.

On May 9, 2009, Costa Rica reported eight confirmed cases of swine flu, including one death, a 53 year-old man who had not traveled to Mexico. The death is the first death attributed to swine flu outside of the the North American continent.Baltimore Sun: Costa Rica reports 1st swine flu death outside N. Americas... (May 9, 2009)

Earthquake Research

Currently a team of researchers have been divided into two groups, one assigned to Costa Rica and the other to Japan, both of which aim to utilize new tools in order to exact a more in-depth view of earthquake faults. For University of California, Santa Cruz's Susan Schwartz and her team, this means using the new GPS instruments they were able to purchase after the National Science Foundation expanded the team's funding.

Most earthquakes are the result of two plates that rub against one another and create a tremendous shaking. Those occurring in Costa Rica, however, are of the silent variety. Referred to as the slow slip event, these quakes are created when the plates rub against each other at an impossibly slow pace. Rather than a tremor, there is no initial proof that an earthquake has even occurred. It is the GPS technology that allows the team to actually study what is happening. Schwartz hopes her team will be able to figure out if these silent sceismologic events are causing a build-up in the plates that will prompt a catastrophic tremor, or if they are actually absorbing the power and thus preventing the next "big one."LiveScience: Scientists Dig Deep for In-Depth Look at Earthquakes (February 19, 2009)

Brief History

Christopher Colombus was the first European to reach Costa Rica in 1502. Since Costa Rica was some distance from Guatemala City and Antigua, the hubs of trade during Spanish colonial times, Costa Rica was not tightly controlled by the Spanish Monarchy. There was not a large base of indigenous people for labor, so Spanish settlers had to work their own land. Without the oppression of lower classes, a rudimentary democracy was formed which is believed to be one of the main reasons for Costa Rica's greater levels of peace and political stability today.

The Costa Rica Civil War was the bloodiest period of violence in in their history and launched a new constitution, a democratically-elected assembly, and the abolition of the military.

Tourism

Tourism is a $1.9 billion yearly business. Costa Rica protects 23% of its land within a protected areas system and national parks making it an early advocate of ecotourism. It boasts volcanoes and rainforests, rivers and oceans, and the greatest density of species in the world.