By Greta Ruffino and Euronews
Published on •Updated
A powerful 7.7 magnitude earthquake struck Panama on Friday, damaging buildings and triggering evacuations, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS).
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The quake’s epicenter was located near the southern tip of the country, about 12 kilometers west-southwest of the isolated community of Pitaloza Arriba, the USGS said.
A tsunami warning was issued for the eastern Pacific on Friday, but it was later lifted.
René Garcia, head of emergency operations within the country’s national civil protection system, told the AFP news agency that no deaths had been reported so far. At least 27 people were reportedly injured.
Tremors were felt in the capital Panama City, where buildings shook and residents rushed to the streets waiting for news.
Omar Smith of the National Civil Protection Service told local television station Telemetro Reporta that damage was reported mainly in the central provinces of Veraguas, Herrera and Los Santos. He said no damage had been reported in the capital.
Several aftershocks followed the first tremor.
Local media reported that the earthquake was also felt in parts of neighboring Colombia.
Panamanian President José Raul Mulino called for calm after the earthquake, writing on X: “What happened should not be used to cause alarm or disorder. »
Panama is located along the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” a 40,000-kilometer stretch of volcanoes and fault lines where most of the world’s earthquakes occur.
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