Major earthquake hits Panama

PENONOME, Panama (AFP) — A powerful 7.7-magnitude earthquake rocked Panama on Friday, collapsing buildings and roads in the center of the country and injuring at least 27 people, with no deaths reported.

The shallow tremor was felt across the Central American nation of around 4.5 million people, according to the National Civil Protection System.

The head of emergency operations Rene Garcia told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that there were no reports of fatalities so far.

In Panama City, about 200 kilometers from the epicenter, there were scenes of panic as people rushed to evacuate from the city’s emblematic skyscrapers.

“I was scared because the shaking was very strong and prolonged,” Salomon Andion, 46, told AFP after evacuating his 15-story building for the second time following aftershocks.

“Heavy objects like dressers, the bed, and all the kitchen items were shaking.”

A video widely shared on social media showed water falling from the rooftop pool of a building more than 20 stories tall.

Another showed a bridge over the Panama Canal shaking violently but remaining upright as vehicles traveled across it.

“We are facing a major disaster,” President Jose Raul Mulino said, adding that some roads had “completely collapsed.”

“It was horrible, like nothing we ever experienced. My daughter was trapped in school,” Juana Alveo, a 38-year-old cashier at a store in the city of Penonome in central Cocle province, told AFP.

There were 27 people with minor injuries across the country as a result of the quake, according to a statement from the National Civil Protection System.

The US Geological Survey said the quake struck at 12:56 p.m. local time with an epicenter 10 kilometers from the small town of Pitaloza Arriba in central Herrera province.

The USGS initially estimated it to be a magnitude-8.0 quake before revising it down to 7.7.