A powerful magnitude-7.7 earthquake ripped through Panama on Friday, plunging the high-rise capital city into chaos and leaving a trail of collapsed structures across the nation's central regions.
The United States Geological Survey (USGS) reported the seismic event at 17:56 GMT, pinpointing its epicenter just 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the small town of Pitaloza Arriba in south-central Panama. The quake's shallow depth of 12 kilometers amplified its destructive force, sending tremors across the entire country of approximately 4.5 million people for nearly a minute.
Immediately following the temblor, a formidable tsunami warning was issued for Panama, with alerts for potentially dangerous, albeit smaller, waves extending along the coastlines of other Latin American and South Pacific nations. The U.S. Tsunami Warning System projected the possibility of tsunami waves reaching up to three meters high along the Panamanian coast in the hours that followed.
In Panama City, located roughly 200 kilometers from the epicenter, eyewitnesses described scenes of widespread panic as residents urgently evacuated towering skyscrapers, fearing for their safety. While initial reports did not confirm casualties, authorities expressed grave concerns for extensive damage, especially within the country's central heartland.
The human toll of such a sudden disaster was immediately evident. Luis Poveda, a factory worker in the central city of Santiago de Veraguas, conveyed the raw shock to AFP, stating, "I’m in shock right now and haven’t been able to contact my family." Another worker from a flour mill in the same city, Arnulfo Santos, recounted the terrifying moments: "We all ran out of the building, the power lines were swaying, and everyone was outside."
Images rapidly circulating through local media outlets depicted a horrifying scene in Penonomé, a town situated 150 kilometers southwest of Panama City, where a section of a hotel had completely collapsed. A church in Penonomé also sustained serious damage, and numerous other buildings displayed visible cracks, signaling deep structural compromise.
Further reports detailed a significant road in the province of Veraguas suffering extensive cracking, indicative of the widespread ground deformation caused by the quake. The danger remained palpable as the local geosciences institute recorded over a dozen substantial aftershocks, including one tremor registering a magnitude of 6.0, keeping communities on edge.
Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino took to X, urging the populace to remain calm amidst the chaos. "What happened should not be used to generate alarms and disorder," he advised, emphasizing the need for an immediate assessment of the damage. While earthquakes are a rare occurrence in Panama, typically striking the western Chiriqui province bordering Costa Rica, this event marks at least the fourth quake exceeding 7.0 magnitude in Latin America this year, following similar devastating events in Venezuela’s Guaira in June and western Colombia in August.
As the full extent of the devastation unfolds, the focus remains on assessing the damage, ensuring public safety, and demonstrating the resilience that often emerges when communities face nature's unpredictable fury. For Americans, such events underscore the critical importance of robust infrastructure and swift, organized emergency responses, lessons that resonate far beyond any national border.
