A strong 6.8 earthquake struck Costa Rica a short time ago, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS.) The earthquake struck at  9:28pm ET  near 9.526°N 84.505°W at a depth of 12.3 miles. The quake was just west of the city of Parrita on Costa Rica’s central West Coast.

The National Weather Service Pacific Tsunami Warning Center at Ewa Beach, Hawaii says there’s no tsunami threat to the United States from this quake.  In a bulletin issued a short time ago, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said, “based on all available data, a destructive Pacific-wide tsunami is not expected.” The National Weather Service Tsunami Warning Center in Palmer, Alaska also pointed out in their bulletin that “there is no tsunami danger for the U.S. West Coast, British Columbia, or Alaska based on earthquake information and historic tsunami records.”

Damage and injury reports from Costa Rica are still pending.

Meanwhile, an even stronger earthquake struck in Iran near the city of Halabja near the Iran/Iraq border.  Because of that 7.3 magnitude quake, there’s significant damage, injury, and death. As of 10:30pm ET, more than 1,000 have been reported injured. At least  61 were killed in Iran while Iraq is reporting at least 4 dead. The quake was also felt by tens of millions of people throughout the Middle East and into southern Asia.