A magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck southern Panama on Friday, damaging buildings and sending thousands into the streets, but the country appeared to escape widespread destruction or deaths.
The US Geological Survey said the earthquake hit at a depth of 12.6 km (7.8 miles), with an epicenter in a sparsely populated area about 200 km (124 miles) from the capital, and that some casualties were possible.
In the following hours, even as more than 40 aftershocks rattled the isthmus nation, the Panama Canal and Cobre Panama copper mine reported normal operations, and the Tocumen International Airport lifted a suspension on flights.
Office workers in the upscale business hub of downtown Panama City fretted about getting home in the snarl of traffic after the quake sent thousands into the streets.
Juan Sanchez, a 37-year-old employee of the Ministry of Economy, waited for a bus he said he doubted would arrive.
"They evacuated all of these buildings. Everyone is outside. Now the problem is, how do we get home?"
President Raul Mulino traveled to Penonome, a city about halfway between the epicenter and Panama City, where some buildings collapsed and a church was damaged.
Prolonged termors
Nestor Luque, director of Panama's geosciences institute, attributed the quake to the Azuero Sona Fault System that he said contained a massive buildup of pressure that is occasionally released.
"The seismic signals have traveled throughout the national territory, and that is why it could be felt everywhere."
In Panama City, Luque said he counted 40 seconds of vibrations, though other areas may have felt even longer tremors.
Sabina Rios, who was on the sixth floor of an old US military-era building in Panama City, said the shaking was unusually strong and prolonged.
"The quake felt strong and lasted a long time, the longest I’ve felt in years,” Rios said.
Victor Pinzon, a 48-year-old maintenance worker, told Reuters he had watched high-rise window cleaners ride out the shaking. “It’s a miracle they didn’t get killed,” he said. “They looked like they were swinging in a hammock.”
Strong earthquakes are not common in Panama, and some elderly residents were in tears as they evacuated into the streets.
“We’re scared. It’s just the two of us old folks here. The house has cracked, and we’re afraid it could fall on us,” said Ricardo Brown, 74, in Herrera province in southern Panama, where he said he saw a number of damaged homes.
Omar Smith, who heads Panama's civil protection agency, told news outlet Telemetro Reporta that impacts had also been reported in Chitre, the capital of Herrera, and along the coast in Los Santos province.
The USGS estimated economic losses could amount to 1% to 10% of Panama's gross domestic product, and electricity provider Naturgy reported power outages in six provinces.
Panama was due to hold a national evacuation drill on Monday of next week to test the country's emergency response.
Shipping through the Panama Canal remains uninterrupted
The Panama Canal Authority said the canal was operating normally and that staff were inspecting for earthquake-related damage, later adding that ships are passing through the canal without interruption.
Panama is set to hold a national evacuation drill next Monday to test the country's earthquake response.
Vessel passage at the Panama Canal was not interrupted on Friday after a strong earthquake caused infrastructure damage in the Central American country, the waterway's authority said.
Operations at the canal were normal while technical teams inspected facilities, the authority said in a release, adding that an emergency protocol had been activated.
The quake prompted tsunami warnings for parts of the coasts of Panama, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Peru, Nicaragua, Guatemala, El Salvador and Mexico.
About 90 vessels, including bulk carriers, tankers, and container ships, were on Friday at both ends of the canal waiting to pass or to dock at any of the berths serving storage terminals and trans-shipment services, according to monitoring data from LSEG's Workspace.