It has been a while since my last post. Between going home to Texas for Thanksgiving and searching for pictures of the wonderful Catholic Church here in Santiago de Puriscal that was ruined in the earthquake of 1990, it's just been too long.
I have been unsuccessful in finding pictures of the church before the earthquake. It's the strangest thing I've every run into. I searched Google and I joined several pages on Facebook in Costa Rica that post old pictures, and not one single one. If this church had been built in the mid 1800's I would understand it, but it was only about 10 years old when the earthquake hit. My post will just have to be a little information on the earthquake and picture of the way the church is today.
March 25, 1990 a 6.5 earthquake with an epicenter 11 miles southwest of Cobano on the Nicoya Peninsula damaged buildings in San José, Puntarenas and Puriscal. The good news was there was some damage in Santiago de Puriscal where I live now but nothing substantial. The bad news was geologists and siesmologists of the National University of Costa Rica said that a shift of two land masses activated certain faults in the area of Puriscal. This quake triggered a swarm of quakes lasting for six straight weeks. The National Emergency Center in Costa Rica tried to calm the public reminding them that quakes had always occurred frequently since the forming of the territory. This did nothing to calm anyone. 3,000 residents of Puriscal abandoned their homes looking for some place to feel safer. I can tell you right now I would have been out of here, too. Six weeks is a long time for trimmers and small earthquakes to continue.
On Dec. 22, 1990 a 5.7 quake with an epicenter less than 3 miles north of Santiago de Puriscal injured 70 people and damaged hundreds of houses in Puriscal, Alajuela and Atenas. This quake damaged the Catholic Church here in Santiago beyond repair.
It breaks my heart every day I go into town and see this amazing building being allowed to just crumble to ruin. I don't understand why nothing has ever been done. I've heard several stories. One being the Church walked away from it because Puriscal declared it a historical monument, so the Church could not do anything. I also heard of groups that tried to raise money to restore it or parts of it and failed. At one point the City was going to have it torn down, but the people of Puriscal raised their voices and it still stands.
I would love to see at least the front façade and bell towers saved. From all over Puriscal you can see the towers standing. It will be a terrible loss if they let it go.
I am still holding out hope that someone will figure a way to either save the whole structure or at the very least the towers.
Pura Vida!
