A powerful earthquake of magnitude 7.7 struck Panama on Friday morning, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The quake shook buildings even in the capital and prompted evacuations. The U.S. Tsunami Warning System issued possible tsunami threat alerts for Costa Rica, El Salvador, Peru, Mexico, Guatemala, Panama, Nicaragua, Colombia and Ecuador.
The epicenter was near the southern tip of the Central American country, about 14 kilometers (9 miles) southwest of the remote community of Pitaloza Arriba, USGS reported. The tremor was felt in Panama City, where buildings swayed and people evacuated into the streets.
The USGS initially reported the quake as magnitude 8.0, but later adjusted the magnitude downward to 7.7. A magnitude 5.5 aftershock was recorded in Bajo Corral, about 27 miles from the epicenter of the previously registered earthquake, according to the USGS. Since then, three others of 5.3, 5.8 and 5.0 have been reported.
Residents of Panama City, visibly shocked, gathered in the streets after feeling the strong tremor. “We felt it very strongly, it knocked things down in the kitchen, but we are fine, though very scared,” Rosendo Domínguez, a 60-year-old resident of Herrera, the province where the quake occurred, said by telephone to The Associated Press. “All the people are outside, frightened.”
Local media reported that the quake was also felt in some areas of neighboring Colombia. Panama’s Civil Protection said it was investigating possible damage in regions near the earthquake site. Omar Smith, of the National Civil Protection Service, urged the population to remain calm. He told the news channel Telemetro Reporta that damage was concentrated in the central provinces of Veraguas, Herrera and Los Santos. He stated that no damage had been registered in the capital, known for its hundreds of skyscrapers.
Panama is located in the “Ring of Fire,” the line of seismic faults surrounding the Pacific Ocean, where most of the world’s earthquakes occur. It was not immediately clear if there were casualties or material damage. President José Raúl Mulino asked citizens for calm. “I have asked Dinoska Montalvo and agencies to report on the effects, calling for calm. What happened should not be used to generate alarms and disorder,” the president wrote on X, referring to the Minister of Government.
