Magnitude 7.7 earthquake strikes Panama, tsunami warnings issued for nine countries

A powerful earthquake struck Panama on Friday, shaking buildings in the capital, prompting evacuations and sending tremors as far as neighboring Colombia, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The quake was centered about 10 kilometers (6 miles) southwest of the remote community of Pitaloza Arriba, in the central province of Herrera, and struck at a depth of 10 kilometers, USGS said. USGS initially reported the quake as magnitude 8, then revised it to 7.6 and later to 7.7. [ 1 , 3 , 14 ]

Outlets differed on the figures. ABC News, CBS News and NBC News reported a magnitude of 7.7, while Newsweek and one Fox News report gave 7.6; a second Fox News report said USGS had lowered its estimate from 8.0 to 7.7. ABC News placed the epicenter 12 km west-southwest of Pitaloza Arriba, and CBS News said it was about 7 miles southwest at a depth of 7 miles. Fox News and NBC News said the quake hit at 1:56 p.m. ET; ABC News, citing the Panama president's office, said it occurred shortly before 1 p.m. local time. [ 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 10 , 13 ]

The National Weather Service issued a tsunami warning for the coasts of Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Nicaragua and Guatemala. ABC News, Newsweek and NBC News reported that the U.S. tsunami warning system also flagged Costa Rica, El Salvador, Peru and Mexico, with ABC News quoting the warning that "hazardous tsunami waves" were possible in the next few hours. The U.S. Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said waves of between about 3 and 9 feet were possible along Panama's coast, CBS News reported. The National Weather Service said tsunamis were "NOT expected" to hit the United States after an initial alert that they were possible along the West Coast, according to Newsweek. Seismologist Jeffrey Park said on CNN that the initial size and location were a "red flag for a tsunami warning" and that the quake had the possibility of leading to severe tsunami damage along Panama's southern coastline. [ 1 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 10 , 13 , 14 ]

Omar Smith of the National Civil Protection Service said on the Telemetro Reporta news channel that damage was concentrated in the central provinces of Veraguas, Herrera and Los Santos, and that there were no reports of damage in the capital, which is known for its hundreds of skyscrapers. Video aired by local news outlets showed a Catholic cathedral collapsing and part of a hotel's facade falling onto a car in the city of Penonomé, in the province of Coclé. No casualties were immediately reported. Panama's Civil Protection said it was investigating possible damage in regions near the epicenter, and NBC News reported the National System for Civil Protection was monitoring for reports of damage throughout the country. [ 1 , 3 , 10 , 13 , 14 ]

President José Raúl Mulino called for calm, writing on X: "What happened should not be used to cause alarm or disorder." His office said all administrative offices and schools had suspended operations and that more than a dozen aftershocks had been recorded, ABC News reported. USGS recorded two aftershocks measuring 5.8 and 5.5; NBC News located them in El Cacao and Bajo Corral. [ 1 , 3 , 4 , 13 ]

Visibly shaken residents of Panama City gathered outside as they waited for news of the quake's impact. "We felt it very strongly. It knocked things over in the kitchen, but we're okay, though we're very scared," Rosendo Domínguez, 60, from Herrera province, told The Associated Press by phone. "Everyone is outside, scared." Panama lies along the "Ring of Fire," the arc of volcanoes and fault lines around the Pacific Basin where most of the world's earthquakes occur. [ 1 , 3 , 10 , 13 , 14 ]