{"id":922656,"date":"2026-10-10T04:46:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-10T04:46:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/922656\/"},"modified":"2026-10-10T04:46:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-10T04:46:12","slug":"powerful-7-7-magnitude-earthquake-strikes-panama-and-triggers-panic-in-capital-panama","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/922656\/","title":{"rendered":"Powerful 7.7-magnitude earthquake strikes Panama and triggers panic in capital | Panama"},"content":{"rendered":"

A magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck southern Panama<\/a> on Friday, damaging buildings and sending thousands into the streets, but the country appeared to escape widespread destruction or deaths.<\/p>\n

The US Geological Survey (USGS) said the \u2060earthquake hit at a depth of \u206012.6km (7.8 miles), with an \u200bepicenter in a sparsely populated area about 200km (124 miles) from the capital, Panama City. It lasted about a minute.<\/p>\n

In Panama City, there were scenes of panic as people rushed to evacuate from the city\u2019s emblematic skyscrapers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was scared because the shaking was very strong and prolonged. Heavy objects like dressers, the bed, and all the kitchen items were shaking,\u201d Salomon Andion, 46, told Agence France-Presse after evacuating his 15-storey building.<\/p>\n

A collapsed cathedral and governor\u2019s office building in Penonome, Panama. Photograph: Martin Bernetti\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

A video widely shared on social media showed water falling from the rooftop pool of a building over 20 storeys tall. Another showed a bridge over the Panama canal shaking violently but remaining upright as vehicles travelled across it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are facing a major disaster,\u201d President Jose Raul Mulino said, adding that some roads had \u201ccompletely collapsed\u201d.<\/p>\n

Juana Alveo, a 38-year-old cashier at a store in the city of Penonome in central Cocle province, said: \u201cIt was horrible, like nothing we ever experienced. My daughter was trapped in school.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the following hours, even as more than 40 aftershocks rattled the isthmus nation, the Panama canal and Cobre \u2060Panama copper mine reported normal operations and the Tocumen international airport lifted a suspension on flights.<\/p>\n

A nurse works outside Hospital Aquilino Tejeira after an evacuation following the 7.7-magnitude earthquake in Penonome, Panama. Photograph: Bienvenido Velasco\/EPA<\/p>\n

Office workers in the upmarket business hub of downtown Panama City fretted about how to get home in the snarl of traffic.<\/p>\n

Juan Sanchez, a 37-year-old economy ministry employee, waited for a bus he said he doubted would arrive. \u201cThey evacuated all of these buildings. Everyone is outside. Now the \u200bproblem is, how do we get home?\u201d<\/p>\n

An exposure report by the USGS estimated about 43,000 Panamanians lived in areas with at least severe exposure to the quake.<\/p>\n

In Panama City, Nestor Luque, director of the national geosciences institute, said he counted 40 seconds of vibrations, although other areas may have felt even longer tremors.<\/p>\n

Strong earthquakes are not common in Panama, and some elderly residents were in tears as they evacuated into the streets.<\/p>\n

A person looks at buildings damaged by the 7.7-magnitude earthquake in Panama City. Photograph: Beinvenido Velasco\/EPA<\/p>\n

The USGS estimated \u200beconomic losses could amount to between 1% and 10% of Panama\u2019s gross domestic product. Electricity provider Naturgy reported power outages in six provinces.<\/p>\n

Panama was due to hold a national evacuation drill on Monday next week to test the country\u2019s emergency response.<\/p>\n

The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, wrote on social media that he was \u201cclosely monitoring reports\u201d of the earthquake and the US was ready to help, if needed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck southern Panama on Friday, damaging buildings and sending thousands into the streets, but…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":922657,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[64,63,75,128],"class_list":["post-922656","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/922656","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=922656"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/922656\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/922657"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=922656"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=922656"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=922656"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}