A hotel wall in Penonomé broke loose and smashed onto a car Friday. The big 7.7 quake hit near Pitaloza Arriba in Herrera province about 6 miles deep. It started as an 8.0 reading then got fixed. Shaking reached Panama City and sent people racing outside.
Local news showed a Catholic cathedral falling apart in the same town. Roads filled with folks who left their homes. Damage showed up most in Veraguas, Herrera and Los Santos. Omar Smith from the civil protection service said crews were checking the spots closest to the center.
Tsunami alerts covered Panama shores plus Colombia, Ecuador, Nicaragua and Guatemala. Coastal folks got told to listen to officials. The Panama Canal kept running normal. No deaths or injuries came in the early counts.
President José Raúl Mulino asked everyone to stay calm. He warned against stirring panic. Aftershocks of 5.8 and 5.5 followed the main one. USGS tracked them while teams looked at cracked buildings.
Rosendo Domínguez, 60, felt it strong in Herrera. Things flew off his kitchen counters. He and neighbors waited outside scared but unhurt. Videos from sports shows and streets caught the sudden stop in daily life.
The quake hit the central provinces hard. Panama City skyscrapers swayed but held. Schools shut and some metro lines stopped. Officials kept assessing remote spots near the epicenter through the day.
Panama sits where big plates push against each other. That brings these strong shakes. Crews stayed on alert for more movement and any water waves. People stayed outside until the all-clear came.
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