The Chinese government would provide 100,000 U.S. dollars to Costa Rica in emergency quake relief aid, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said Monday.

A 6.2-magnitude earthquake jolted Costa Rica's mountain villages 35 km northwest of the capital of San Jose on Jan 8. The quake has killed at least 18 people and dozens more are missing, according to media reports.

(Xinhua News Agency January 12, 2009)