A Magnitude 7.7 Earthquake Strikes Panama, and the Canal Keeps Running
The quake struck on Friday afternoon local time at a depth of 12.6 kilometres, about 200 kilometres from Panama City, shaking the capital for the better part of a minute. A second of 6.6 followed two and a half hours later, with 147 aftershocks. Several people have minor injuries; no deaths have been confirmed.
President José Raúl Mulino called it “a major disaster” while confirming that no deaths or injuries had been documented by Friday evening, and warned against using it “to cause alarm or disorder”. The damage is concentrated in Coclé, Herrera, Los Santos and Veraguas: the cathedral at Penonomé lost a side and a spire, the Church of San Atanasio in Los Santos collapsed, a multi-storey building came down in the resort town of Playa Venao crushing several cars, fissures opened along roads, six provinces lost power and classes were cancelled nationwide. The United States Geological Survey estimates 4.6 million people felt moderate to severe shaking and puts the economic loss at between 1% and 10% of national output. Ricardo Brown, 74, in Las Minas: “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.” Tsunami warnings went out for eleven countries before being stood down. The detail that matters beyond Panama is the one that did not happen: the canal continued normal operations. With the Strait of Hormuz effectively closed, that waterway is carrying more of the world’s trade stress than usual. Panama was due to hold a national earthquake drill on Monday.