A 7.7 magnitude earthquake ripped through central Panama on Friday afternoon, collapsing buildings near the epicenter and sending thousands of people running into the streets of Panama City. The USGS measured it at a shallow 12 kilometers deep.
The quake hit at 12:56 local time, about 10 kilometers from the small town of Pitaloza Arriba in Herrera province. Aftershocks kept coming, including a 6.6. Tsunami warnings went out along the Pacific coasts of Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Nicaragua and Guatemala.
In Panama City, about 200 kilometers from the epicenter, office workers poured out of skyscrapers. Video from the capital shows a rooftop pool pouring water over the side of a highrise. Over the canal, drivers filmed a bridge shaking as cars kept moving across it.
Damage is concentrated in the central provinces of Herrera, Veraguas and Los Santos, Panama’s civil protection service said. Several people were injured. The Panama Canal is operating as normal.
“We felt it very strongly. It knocked things over in the kitchen, but we’re okay, though very scared.”
Rosendo Dominguez, 60, of Herrera province, to the Associated Press
The tsunami warnings were later lifted, and emergency crews are still assessing the damage. Panama gets hundreds of quakes a year, but rarely anything above a magnitude 7.
SEE ALSO: Mamdani Called Trump to Try to Get the Wounded Bronx Shooting Suspect Released. Trump Said No. | 100 Cop Cars Stormed Skid Row in a Massive Federal Drug Raid | They Caught the Bronx Balcony Suspect. He Grinned the Whole Perp Walk.