Residents near the epicenter of a major earthquake in southern Panama began cleaning up on Saturday, traumatized by the previous day’s heavy shaking that left widespread damage but so far no reported deaths. “This is something we’ve never seen before. We weren’t prepared for this kind of event,” said Aldulfo Quintero as he cleared debris from a store in Chitre, about 250 kilometers (155 miles) southwest of Panama City.
The 41-year-old said he has a “great fear” that a new earthquake could strike any moment. After the initial 7.7-magnitude quake around midday Friday, over 100 aftershocks have been recorded, some as strong as magnitude 6.0. Like many others in Chitre, the capital of hard-hit Herrera province, 28-year-old Yakshuri Castillo chose to sleep outdoors due to fears of another quake.
She said she “went into shock” when the first quake struck. Dozens of homes were damaged in the city, whose 66,000 residents were still without electricity on Saturday. The epicenter of the initial quake was registered by the US Geological Survey (USGS) about 60 kilometers away, near the border of Herrera, Los Santos, Veraguas provinces.
Earthquakes are rare in Panama and usually occur in western Chiriqui province, bordering Costa Rica. Strong shaking in Panama City, over 200 kilometers from the epicenter, sent panicked people pouring into the streets from the capital’s numerous high-rise buildings. While no deaths have been reported from the quake, about 30 people have been treated for minor injuries.
Authorities are still assessing the damage in remote areas. Several communities have been cut off due to roadways damaged by the quake. “The disaster we are facing is massive,” President Jose Raul Mulino said upon arriving in one of the affected areas. The United States, which counts Panama among the members of President Donald Trump’s new “Shield of the Americas” initiative, has pledged rapid support.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that he was “closely monitoring” the situation, with his office “rapidly mobilizing resources and personnel to assist.” The top US military commander in the region, Francis Donovan, has “directed immediate support to help the people of Panama, including on-the-ground support from rotary-wing aircraft… and the airlift of key personnel and supplies into the country,” US Southern Command said in a statement on Saturday.
The Panamanian quake is at least the fourth quake this year in Latin America surpassing 7.0 in magnitude, after devastating back-to-back earthquakes in Venezuela’s Guaira in June and a powerful earthquake in western Colombia in August.
