A powerful 7.7-magnitude earthquake rocked Panama on Friday, collapsing buildings and roads in the center of the country and injuring at least 27 people, according to the country’s National Civil Protection System. No deaths had been reported as of Monday, officials said, as recovery crews worked through the weekend.
The shallow tremor struck at 12:56 pm local time, with its epicenter about 10 kilometers from the small town of Pitaloza Arriba in central Herrera province, according to the US Geological Survey, which revised its initial estimate of magnitude 8.0 down to 7.7. The quake was felt across the Central American nation of about 4.5 million people, and as far away as Costa Rica and Colombia. A tsunami warning for the eastern Pacific was issued and later lifted.
Panic in the capital, ruins in the interior
In Panama City, some 200 kilometers from the epicenter, residents rushed to evacuate high-rise buildings as aftershocks rolled through — more than 80 have been recorded, the largest a magnitude 6.6. Video shared widely on social media showed water sloshing from a rooftop pool more than 20 stories up, and a bridge over the Panama Canal shaking violently but remaining upright.
“We are facing a major disaster,” President José Raúl Mulino said, adding that some roads had “completely collapsed.” The worst damage was in the interior: a hotel and several homes collapsed in Tonosí, and initial assessments reported at least 142 homes, 188 schools, 20 health facilities, 26 government buildings and nine bridges damaged nationwide. Seventeen of the 27 injured were in Coclé province. The head of emergency operations, Rene Garcia, told AFP there were no reports of fatalities.
Recovery begins
By the weekend, traumatized residents were clearing rubble and sleeping outdoors for fear of aftershocks, AFP reported. The quake is among the strongest to hit Panama in decades and will test a disaster-response system more accustomed to floods than to seismic shocks of this scale.
Disaster agencies across the region are watching the recovery closely, as Central America enters a season already marked by extreme weather. As with other recent emergency responses covered by News Lineups’ reporting on Kenya’s Ebola containment, the speed of the official response — and the resilience of hospitals and schools — will shape the toll in the weeks ahead. Follow the latest via AFP and the ongoing damage assessment.
