MANUEL ANTONIO, COSTA RICA (WWJ) -- A group of local students and teachers had a bit of a scare in Costa Rica late Tuesday night when an earthquake hit neighboring Panama.
More than 30 students, teachers and chaperones from Walled Lake Central High School are in Costa Rica for a cultural exchange trip and felt their hotel shaking and swaying when the quake hit.
Teacher Nancy Kattoula says around 11:30 everyone in the group had just gotten into bed when howler monkeys and other wildlife outside their hotel began making a lot of noise, and their doors began shaking. Kattoula says she thought someone was breaking into her room.
"And then all of a sudden, everything started moving," Kattoula said. "Our beds moved, the paintings were all crooked this morning when we woke up."
The 6.2 magnitude quake's center was in the western part of Panama, near the Costa Rica border, more than 100 miles east of where the group was staying, near the southwest coast of Costa Rica. No damage or injuries have been reported in either country.
"Our students were a little freaked out because they've never experienced an earthquake, but our tour guide was amazing and got to the rooms and told us everything was okay," she said. "The adults went and checked on the students and made sure everyone was okay."
The tour guide told the group earthquakes are fairly common in the area.
The group has been in Costa Rica for more than a week and plans to return to the U.S. on Thursday.
