Powerful quake rocks Panama, collapsing buildings but no deaths reported
A magnitude 7.7 earthquake shook central Panama on Friday afternoon, collapsing buildings and splitting roads, U.S. scientists said. No one was reported killed by Friday night, though several people were hurt. Schools across the country closed, and a tsunami warning for the Pacific coast was lifted.
A powerful earthquake shook Panama on Friday afternoon, knocking down buildings and cracking roads in the middle of the country.
The U.S. Geological Survey first said the quake was a magnitude 8.0, then lowered it to 7.6 and later to 7.7, AFP and the Associated Press reported. It struck at 12:56 p.m. local time about 6 miles from the small town of Pitaloza Arriba in Herrera province. A second strong quake, measured at 6.6, followed.
As of Friday evening, no deaths had been reported. "We are facing a major disaster," President José Raúl Mulino said, adding that some roads had "completely collapsed." He warned the death count could still change.
Damage was worst in the central provinces of Herrera, Coclé, Los Santos and Veraguas. In Penonomé, the cathedral partly collapsed and a hotel was badly damaged, AP reported. AFP said at least 27 people suffered minor injuries. The town of Tonosí in Los Santos was cut off, and the health minister said crews were looking for a way to reach it by air.
In Panama City, about 120 miles away, people rushed out of tall buildings. The country's main airport closed for a time, then reopened. The Panama Canal kept running normally, its managers said.
A tsunami warning for coasts from Panama to Guatemala was issued and then lifted. Schools across the country were closed.
Strong earthquakes are not common in central Panama. The last one to cause wide damage came in 1991, when a 7.4 quake centered in Costa Rica killed 23 people, AP reported. Experts said strict building rules may have helped limit the harm this time.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the United States was sending help at Panama's request.
What we know: The quake was magnitude 7.7, with no deaths reported Friday night.
What we don't: The full damage count in cut-off towns.
Where outlets agree The Associated Press and AFP both report that the USGS first called the quake magnitude 8.0 before revising it to 7.7, and that no deaths were reported.
Where they differ The Associated Press reports that University of Panama seismologists counted more than 45 aftershocks, while AFP says the local geosciences institute recorded more than 80.