Magnitude 7.7 Earthquake and Strong Aftershocks Damage Hundreds of Buildings Across Panama, No Deaths Reported

A magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck southern Panama at 12:56 p.m. local time on Friday, centred about 10 kilometres southwest of the small community of Pitaloza Arriba in Herrera Province. The U.S. Geological Survey placed the depth at 12.6 kilometres. A magnitude 6.6 aftershock followed later in the afternoon. More than 100 aftershocks were recorded, including several above magnitude 5.

President José Raúl Mulino said no deaths had been confirmed by Friday evening. The National Civil Protection System later reported 27 people with injuries ranging from minor to moderate. Damage assessments listed roughly 420 homes, a similar number of public schools, seven hotels, at least 13 churches and nine bridges affected. The impacts concentrated in the central provinces of Veraguas, Herrera, Coclé and Los Santos.

In La Villa de Los Santos, a colonial-era church and multiple homes collapsed. Videos showed water cascading from a rooftop pool on a high-rise in Panama City and a bridge over the Panama Canal shaking while remaining intact. Power was interrupted in six provinces. Tocumen International Airport suspended flights for several hours before resuming. The Panama Canal Authority reported normal ship transit and activated inspection protocols.

The USGS initially estimated magnitude 8.0 before revising downward. Local instruments recorded the mainshock near 7.2. Nestor Luque of Panama’s Institute of Geosciences attributed the rupture to the Azuero-Sona Fault System. The event was the strongest in that part of the country since at least 1951. Early USGS loss estimates suggested economic damage could reach 1 to 10 percent of national GDP, with preliminary figures above $1 billion.

A tsunami warning was issued for parts of the Pacific coast and later cancelled. No significant wave damage was reported. Shaking was felt in Costa Rica and as far as San José. In Panama City, residents evacuated high-rises and gathered in streets. In Herrera, residents described cracked walls and fear of further collapse.

The government declared a state of emergency on Saturday as aftershocks continued. Emergency teams assessed isolated communities and restored access to damaged roads. The Cobre Panama copper mine reported normal operations. Electricity provider Naturgy worked to restore service across the affected provinces.

Panama’s location on the Ring of Fire makes large earthquakes possible, though events of this magnitude remain uncommon in the central provinces. The shallow depth increased the intensity of shaking near the epicentre even though the area is sparsely populated. Most of the country’s 4.5 million people live farther north and east.

Civil protection officials continued door-to-door checks on Saturday. Temporary shelters were opened in the hardest-hit districts. Schools in several provinces remained closed while engineers inspected buildings. The absence of fatalities so far has been attributed to the rural setting of the epicentre and the timing during daylight hours when many people were outdoors or able to exit quickly.

The sequence adds to a year in which several strong earthquakes have struck Latin America. Recovery in the central provinces will focus on housing reconstruction and repair of rural roads and bridges. The canal’s uninterrupted operation limited the wider economic disruption.