High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The 2012 Costa Rica earthquake occurred at 08:42 local time (14:42 UTC) on September 5, 2012. The epicenter of the 7.6 Mw earthquake was in the Nicoya Peninsula, 11 kilometers east-southeast of Nicoya. A tsunami warning was issued shortly afterwards, but later cancelled. Two people are known to have died, one from a heart attack and another, a construction worker, crushed by a collapsing wall.