CHITRE, Panama — Shaken residents in southern Panama began clearing debris and assessing structural damage Saturday following a powerful magnitude 7.7 earthquake that damaged dozens of homes and knocked out electricity, but caused no reported fatalities.
The midday Friday temblor struck roughly 150 miles (250 kilometers) southwest of the capital, near the shared borders of Herrera, Los Santos, and Veraguas provinces, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The rare seismic event has triggered more than 100 aftershocks, some reaching magnitude 6.0, leaving communities on edge and prompting many to sleep outside.
“This is something we’ve never seen before. We weren’t prepared for this kind of event,” said Aldulfo Quintero, 41, as he cleared rubble from a storefront in Chitre, the capital of hard-hit Herrera province. Quintero said he harbored deep fears that another massive tremor could strike at any time.
Local resident Yakshuri Castillo, 28, recounted going into shock as the initial shaking began. Like hundreds of her neighbors, she chose to spend the night in the open air rather than risk being inside a damaged building.
Officials reported that approximately 30 people received medical attention for minor injuries, though no deaths had been confirmed. The quake severed transit routes, leaving several remote towns isolated as emergency crews worked to survey the full extent of the destruction. In Chitre, a city of about 66,000, power remained completely knocked out on Saturday.
Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino arrived in the disaster zone to oversee relief efforts, describing the situation on the ground as “massive.”
Even in Panama City, more than 120 miles away from the epicenter, the violent swaying caused high-rise office and residential towers to evacuate, sending panicked crowds into the streets. While earthquakes occasionally occur in western Panama near the Costa Rican border, major seismic activity in the southern peninsula is exceptionally uncommon.
International aid mobilized quickly Saturday. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington was rapidly coordinating personnel and relief supplies. U.S. Southern Command announced that Gen. Francis Donovan had directed immediate military assistance, including rotary-wing aircraft operations and the transport of essential cargo and emergency response teams to support Panamanian authorities.
Friday’s temblor marks at least the fourth earthquake exceeding magnitude 7.0 to hit Latin America this year, following devastating consecutive quakes in Venezuela in June and a major shock in western Colombia in August.
