Massive 7.7-Magnitude Earthquake Strikes Panama, Triggering Tsunami Warnings and Building Damage

A 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck Panama on Friday, according to the US Geological Survey, sparking warnings about tsunamis off its coast. The quake had a depth of 12.6km and occurred in Herrera Province, roughly 200km to the south-west of the Panama Canal, the USGS said. The USGS initially registered an 8.0 magnitude before revising it, while Panama's geological institute reported the quake as a 7.2 magnitude.

Some buildings were reported damaged, but the critical Panama Canal trade waterway was not affected. Local newspaper La Prensa reported that people across different regions evacuated buildings, businesses, schools, and homes following the earthquake. In Panama, where earthquakes of this magnitude are rare, television images showed elderly residents reduced to tears in the streets as a series of weaker aftershocks rattled the country.

“We’re scared. It’s just the two of us old folks here. The house has cracked, and we’re afraid it could fall on us,” said Ricardo Brown, speaking to Reuters by phone from the Las Minas area in Herrera province in southern Panama, where he noted the quake damaged a number of homes. Shaking was also felt as far as San Jose, the capital of neighbouring Costa Rica, according to a Reuters witness.

Omar Smith, who heads Panama's civil protection agency, told local outlet Telemetro Reporta that impacts had been reported in Chitre, the capital of Herrera, and along the coast in Los Santos province. Videos shared by La Prensa showed the tower of a historic building had collapsed along with several balconies of a residential building in Penonome, a city about halfway between the epicenter and Panama City. In the capital, the service on two lines of the Panama City Metro was temporarily suspended for safety reasons, the operator said. Nationwide, Panama's ministry of education ordered the closure of schools. Panama was due to hold a national evacuation drill on Monday of next week to test the country's emergency response capabilities against earthquakes.

The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has warned of the potential for tsunami waves off the coast of Panama, as well as the western coasts of Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Peru. Friday’s quake was the latest to hit Latin America in recent months, following recent major seismic events in Venezuela and Colombia.