Panama Earthquake Rocks Herrera as Tsunami Threat Fades

The Panama earthquake struck on Friday afternoon, a magnitude 7.7 shock that collapsed buildings near its epicenter in the country's central Herrera province and sent shaking as far as Panama City and neighboring Colombia. The US Geological Survey said the quake hit about ten kilometers southwest of the remote community of Pitaloza Arriba, at a similar depth below the surface. The agency first estimated the quake at magnitude 8.0, then revised it downward. The temblor struck just before 1:56 p.m. Eastern time, according to the USGS. President José Raúl Mulino said the whole government was mobilizing to respond, describing the situation as a major disaster.

About three hours after the Panama earthquake's main shock, a second earthquake of magnitude 6.6 struck fourteen kilometers west of Río Grande, according to the USGS. The first quake had occurred at 12:56 local time in southern Panama, the agency said. Seismologists at the University of Panama recorded more than 45 aftershocks through the day, including tremors measuring 5.8 and 5.5, most of them too weak to be felt. Rosendo Domínguez, 60, told the Associated Press by phone that the shaking knocked things over in his kitchen in Herrera province and that residents were staying outside, frightened. People in Panama City evacuated into the streets as tall buildings shook, and local media reported the tremors were also felt across the border in Colombia.

Tsunami warnings for five countries

The Panama earthquake prompted a tsunami threat bulletin for five Pacific-coast countries. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center named Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Nicaragua and Guatemala in its bulletin, and said waves of three to nine feet were possible along Panama's coastline. Authorities monitored coastal communities while it was in effect. The alert has since passed, according to the National Weather Service, after no hazardous waves materialized.

Damage, outages and the response

The Panama earthquake destroyed buildings and roads near the epicenter, AFP reported, and officials said the Herrera, Cocle and Los Santos regions sustained the heaviest damage. The St. John Baptist Cathedral was damaged in the shaking, with police officers photographed patrolling around it. The country's civil protection agency said it was still investigating possible damage in regions near the epicenter, according to local media. In the Herrera community of Las Minas, 74-year-old Ricardo Brown said his house had cracked and he feared it could collapse on him and his wife. Outside the Santo Tomas hospital in Panama City, staff moved patients out of the maternity ward after the shaking, images from the scene showed. Power was down across six provinces, according to electricity provider Naturgy, and Tocumen International Airport, the region's main air hub, temporarily suspended flights.

Mulino said he had ordered personnel, resources and aid sent to the affected areas and would personally take part in coordinating the response, with a government press conference planned to update the country, though he did not say when it would take place. In Washington, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he was "closely monitoring the situation" and that the State Department was rapidly mobilizing resources and personnel to help at Panama's request. Rubio shared a State Department tip line on his official X account for Americans in the country, listing +1-888-407-4747 for callers in the United States and Canada and +1-202-501-4444 from elsewhere. Tens of thousands of Americans are estimated to live in Panama, according to USA Today. The US Embassy in Panama also said it was monitoring the situation.

Major earthquakes are rare in Panama, and the USGS estimated economic losses could reach one to ten percent of the country's gross domestic product. The Panama Canal, about 126 miles from the epicenter, kept operating normally, with monitoring data from LSEG's Workspace showing about 90 vessels, including bulk carriers, tankers and container ships, waiting at both ends of the waterway to transit or dock at berths serving storage terminals and trans-shipment services. Back in the central provinces, aftershocks from the Panama earthquake kept rattling homes into the night, and many residents chose to stay outside rather than return indoors.

Reporting on the quake and its aftermath was provided by USA Today, drawing on US Geological Survey data.