A 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck Panama on Friday, sparking warnings about tsunamis off the country's coast.
The quake had a depth of 12.6km and its epicentre was in Herrera Province, roughly 200km to the south-west of the Panama Canal, according to the US Geological Survey.
Some buildings were reported damaged but the critical Panama Canal was not affected, nor was the passage of ships through the trade waterway.
Flights were suspended for several hours at Tocumen International Airport, a major regional hub, but had resumed by Friday evening.
The USGS initially registered a magnitude of 8.0 for the earthquake before revising it. Panama’s geological institute reported the quake as a 7.2 magnitude.
Local newspaper La Prensa said buildings, businesses, schools and homes in several regions were evacuated following the earthquake.
Earthquakes of this magnitude are rare in Panama, and television images showed elderly residents reduced to tears in the streets as a series of weaker aftershocks rattled the country.
“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,” Ricardo Brown told Reuters by phone from the Las Minas area of Herrera Province. He said the quake had damaged several other homes.
Tremors were felt as far as San Jose, the capital of neighbouring Costa Rica, according to a Reuters witness.
Omar Smith, who heads Panama's civil protection agency, told local outlet Telemetro Reporta that aftershocks had been reported in Chitre, the capital of Herrera, and along the coast in Los Santos province.
Videos shared by La Prensa showed that the tower of a cathedral had collapsed, along with several balconies of a residential building in Penonome, a city about halfway between the epicentre and Panama City.
In the capital, the service on two lines of the Panama City Metro was temporarily suspended for safety reasons, the operator said. Nationwide, the ministry of education ordered schools to close.
Panama had been due to hold a national evacuation drill next Monday to test the country's emergency response to earthquakes.
The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has warned of the potential for tsunami waves off the coast of Panama, as well as the western coasts of Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua and Peru.
Friday’s quake was the latest to hit Latin America in recent months.
Venezuela was struck by twin earthquakes in late June that killed nearly 6,500 people, according to the government’s official toll. The quakes caused widespread destruction, particularly along the country’s northern coast.
A powerful earthquake hit Colombia on August 10, levelling buildings and causing major damage in cities including Cali and Pereira. The death toll eventually rose above 330, while the government declared an economic emergency as it confronted a rebuilding bill estimated at roughly $10 billion.
