Panama City/The United States Geological Survey (USGS) recorded this Friday a 7.7 magnitude earthquake in south-central Panama, which has already caused significant material damage, although there is still no information on victims and the tsunami alert originally issued has already been withdrawn. According to the USGS, the epicenter was recorded 12 kilometers from the town of Tonosí, located in southern Panama, and about 239 kilometers from the capital of Panama.
The movement occurred at 12:56 local time and was initially reported with a magnitude of 7.6, which was later updated to 7.7, and was strongly felt in some areas of the capital of Panama, where several buildings in the old banking area were preventively evacuated. After this earthquake, aftershocks with magnitudes of 6.1, 6.0 and the most recent of 5.3 have been felt.
Although no deaths or injuries have been reported so far, the earthquake and its aftershocks have caused serious material damage and mass evacuations. According to the Panamanian newspaper The PressIn Penonomé there is structural damage to the San Juan Bautista Cathedral, the Governor’s Office and the Hotel Dos Continentes. The structure of the Santiago cathedral, in Veraguas, has also been damaged. The Tocumen International Airport has suspended operations to carry out the corresponding evaluations.
“What happened should not be used to generate alarms and disorder”
The President of the Republic, José Raúl Mulino, asked the Minister of Government, Dinoska Montalvo, and the security agencies to inform him “about the effects.” Likewise, he asked this Friday in X to remain calm. “What happened should not be used to generate alarm and disorder,” he said.
On the other hand, the Panama Canal reported this Friday that it maintains its operations normally after the 7.7 earthquake that shook the southeast of the country this Friday, with no record of injuries, although there was some material damage, according to the first reports.
The Canal, through which between 3% and 5% of world trade passes, indicated in a statement that it activated emergency protocols and its technical teams inspect the facilities to identify possible effects, without affecting ship transit operations.
According to official data, this Friday there were 40 ships waiting to cross the route that connects the Atlantic and the Pacific, 37 with reservation and three without.
In recent months, large earthquakes have been recorded in Latin America.
In Venezuela, two occurred earthquakesfollowed one by the other, of magnitude 7.2 and 7.5, on June 24, generating massive destruction in La Guaira, about 30 kilometers from Caracas. According to the latest report from the Venezuelan Government on August 24, the earthquakes caused at least 6,509 deaths and left 14,239 homes with moderate damage and 11,001 homes with serious damage.
In Colombia, the morning of August 10 a 7.4 earthquake It affected 500 municipalities in 16 departments, half of the 32 in the country, where 486,917 people belonging to 303,934 families suffered some type of impact. The Colombian authorities have estimated the dead at 335, as well as the injured at 4,516.
