Homes damaged, power disrupted, flights hit as 2 killer earthquakes strike Panama
TWO powerful earthquakes struck Panama on Friday, with a series of aftershocks in between, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said.
The first quake, measuring 7.7 in magnitude, damaged homes, disrupted electricity supplies, grounded flights and prompted evacuations, while the second measured 6.6 in magnitude.
Buildings near the epicentre of the first quake collapsed, and frightened residents rushed into the streets.
The first quake, followed by a second powerful tremor and a series of aftershocks, was felt as far away as neighbouring Colombia. No deaths, injuries or major damage have so far been reported.
The tremor was felt across the country, with residents reporting prolonged shaking and authorities assessing damage in several provinces. The USGS warned that casualties were possible, although the full extent of the impact was not immediately clear.
The earthquake struck at a depth of 12.6 km, with its epicentre in a sparsely populated area about 200 km from Panama City. More than 40 aftershocks rattled the country in the following hours.
A USGS exposure report estimated that around 43,000 Panamanians lived in areas with at least severe exposure to the earthquake.
Television footage showed elderly residents crying in the streets as aftershocks rattled the country. In Herrera province, one of the areas affected by the earthquake, residents feared damaged buildings could collapse.
“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,” 74-year-old Ricardo Brown told the news agency Reuters. He said several homes had been damaged in his area of Las Minas.
POWER CUTS, AIRPORT DISRUPTION AFFECT SERVICES
Electricity supplies were disrupted across six provinces, utility provider Naturgy said. Tocumen International Airport, a major regional aviation hub, suspended flights following the earthquake. However, the airport later lifted the suspension, allowing flight operations to resume.
In Panama City, traffic congestion worsened as offices released employees early amid concerns about building safety and possible structural damage. The Metro also suspended services, while schools across the capital sent students home early. Classes were suspended nationwide.
Office workers in the city's business district struggled to find transport amid the traffic congestion. Juan Sanchez, a 37-year-old employee of the economy ministry, said he was waiting for a bus but doubted it would arrive.
“ They evacuated all of these buildings. Everyone is outside. Now the problem is, how do we get home?” Sanchez told Reuters.
FAULT SYSTEM BLAMED FOR PROLONGED SHAKING
Nestor Luque, director of Panama’s geosciences institute, attributed the earthquake to the Azuero-Sona Fault System, where pressure had accumulated over time.
“It’s a system of active faults that occasionally, due to the accumulation of stress, release this amount of energy,” Luque told Reuters.
“The seismic signals have travelled throughout the national territory and that is why it could be felt everywhere,” he said.
Luque said the shaking lasted around 40 seconds in Panama City, although tremors may have continued for longer in other areas.
Sabina Rios, who was on the sixth floor of an old building dating back to the period of US military presence in Panama, said the earthquake was unusually strong and prolonged.
“The quake felt strong and lasted a long time, the longest I’ve felt in years,” Rios told the news agency Reuters.
Victor Pinzon, a 48-year-old maintenance worker, said he watched high-rise window cleaners sway as the earthquake shook the buildings.
“It’s a miracle they didn’t get killed,” he told Reuters. “They looked like they were swinging in a hammock.”
BUILDINGS DAMAGED NEAR EPICENTRE
The earthquake’s epicentre was near La Pitaloza, a rural community in the sparsely populated Herrera province close to Panama’s Pacific coastline. The tremors were also felt in San Jose, the capital of neighbouring Costa Rica, according to a Reuters witness.
In Penonome, a city between the epicentre and Panama City, videos verified by Reuters showed a damaged church and the collapse of nearby buildings.
President Raul Mulino travelled to Penonome following the earthquake, where buildings had collapsed and a church was damaged.
Omar Smith, head of Panama’s civil protection agency, told Telemetro reporter that damage had also been reported in Chitre, the capital of Herrera province, and along the coast in Los Santos province.
The USGS estimated that economic losses from the earthquake could range from 1% to 10% of Panama’s gross domestic product, highlighting the potential scale of the impact.
TSUNAMI THREAT LIFTED
The US Tsunami Warning System later said the tsunami threat had passed, with no further danger expected. Earlier, it had warned that hazardous tsunami waves could reach parts of the coasts of Panama, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Peru, Nicaragua, Guatemala, El Salvador and Mexico within three hours of the earthquake.
Panama was scheduled to conduct a nationwide evacuation drill on Monday to test its emergency response capabilities, including preparedness for earthquakes.
LATIN AMERICA BANK OFFERS $50 MILLION QUAKE CREDIT
The Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean has made a credit line of up to $50 million available for Panama after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the southern part of the country on Friday.
Additionally, the bank made a $250,000 donation to the country, it said in a post on X.
