Residents in rural Panama are dealing with aftershocks following two powerful earthquakes that hit the country on Friday LA VILLA DE LOS SANTOS, Panama -- Unnerved residents of rural Panama awoke Saturday on the streets as the aftershocks of two powerful earthquakes that roiled the country shook their communities for hours. The 7.7- and 6.6-magnitude earthquakes toppled buildings near the epicenter and prompted evacuations across the Central American country. Seismologists at the University of Panama recorded dozens of aftershocks, including ones measuring magnitude 5.8, 5.5 and 5.2.
The earlier quake, felt as far away as neighboring Colombia, was centered about 10 kilometers (6 miles) southwest of the remote community of Pitaloza Arriba, in the central province of Herrera, according to the U.S. It struck at a depth of 10 kilometers (6 miles). Panamanian authorities had not attributed any deaths to the earthquakes.
In La Villa de Los Santos, a colonial-era community about 40 miles (64 kilometers) northeast of the epicenter, homes and a historical Catholic church collapsed. People who spent the night on the streets were waiting for the government's guidance on what to do next. "We’ve been here since 1 p.m. yesterday; we haven’t moved," Tony Jiménez, whose home partially collapsed, said while sitting with relatives under a tent.
I can tell you with absolute certainty that in my 90 years, I had never experienced anything like it. It was intense—truly intense.” Images of crumbling buildings and deep fissures slicing through roads added to fears across a region battered by a series of devastating earthquakes in recent months. Two back-to-back 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude earthquakes roiled Venezuela’s La Guaira state in June, killing more than 6,500 people and leaving 17,000 homeless.
In August, a 7.4 magnitude earthquake in Colombia killed at least 289 people. The notably lower toll in nearby Panama may have been due to the country's strict building codes, especially governing construction of skyscrapers in the capital, said Carlos Valdés, head of the Seismology Department at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. Omar Smith of the National Civil Protection Service said that damage was concentrated in the central provinces of Veraguas, Herrera and Los Santos.
He said there were no reports of damage in Panama City. Smith said several injuries have been reported, including one person struck by debris from a partially collapsed structure in the city of Penonomé, around 150 kilometers (93 miles) from the capital. He confirmed a partial collapse and cracks at the cathedral in the district’s main square, as well as damage to the governor’s office building and the Dos Continentes hotel.
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