An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.7 hit Panama on Friday, causing structures to collapse and shaking the capital of the Central American country, according to the U.S. Geological Survey and videos posted on social media.
The quake hit about 1:56 p.m. Eastern time, according to the U.S.G.S. It was centered about nine miles southwest of Pitaloza Arriba.
A series of strong aftershocks struck in the following hours, including one at 4:25 p.m. that reached a preliminary magnitude of 6.9. Geologists said this was the primary risk for the region at the moment.
The main quake was felt as far away as Costa Rica, geologists said. But there is no threat of the quake triggering a tsunami in the immediate region, according to the U.S. Pacific Tsunami Warning Center.
The epicenter was on the Azuero Peninsula, a scenic outcropping that is a several-hour drive from Panama City, the country’s capital. While the peninsula is remote, its wildlife and beaches draw international tourism. In the seaside town El Venao, the El Sitio Hotel collapsed, according to Miguel Batista, the mayor of Pedasí, a town near the earthquake’s epicenter. Videos posted on social media showed damage to roads.
Mr. Batista told Telemetro, a Panamanian TV station, that no one was injured in the hotel collapse. He said some homes in the area had cracks, a bridge was also damaged. The area was without electricity, he said.
“But for now, the most important thing is: no human lives lost so far,” Mr. Batista said.
In Panama City, which is northeast of the earthquake’s epicenter, buildings shook and people evacuated into the streets, according to video footage posted on social media. About 2 million people live in the capital region.
Downtown Panama City, known for its skyscraper-filled skyline, largely escaped major damage, witnesses and the authorities said. But as tall buildings shook, water from rooftop pools sloshed onto the streets below, according to videos posted on social media.
Malitzie Rivera, a deputy director of the national civil protection agency, did not provide a total number of structures damaged during a news conference on Friday afternoon. She said damage was concentrated in the central part of the country, in provinces such as Coclé, Los Santos and Panamá. Government buildings, church steeples, a hotel, water treatment plants and roads had been affected by the earthquake, she said.
“There are no reported victims, really,” she said. “Just injured people who have been taken to health centers.”
In Panama City, Alex Hernandez was reaching for a glass of water in his kitchen on Friday when he suddenly felt dizzy. A shaking sensation grew stronger, and he realized it wasn’t him, it was the ground beneath his feet.
“We are not used to earthquakes like this,” said Mr. Hernandez, a journalist who rushed outside to find dozens of people gathered in the street, watching buildings sway. “We have never experienced something so strong.”
Mr. Hernandez said there appeared to be no major damage in the capital, though roofs had fallen from some office buildings in the city center. He was relieved that the buildings on his street remained standing, but feared that the worst damage was farther south, closer to the epicenter.
Randy Riverstone Graves, a retired pastor from Arkansas, heard the quake before he felt it. He and his wife, Jennifer, were at the Terrazas Bar & Restaurant in Santiago, 40 miles from the epicenter, when he said he heard a sound like an 18-wheeler idling on the sidewalk — which quickly swelled into something closer to a freight train.
“Earthquake!” he recalled shouting in the restaurant as the floor started lurching. On their way out the door, a TV bolted to the wall suddenly fell and shattered at his feet. Then came the crash of something falling from the ceiling.
“We didn’t look back to see what it was,” he said.
The Panamanian authorities confirmed to Telemetro that about a dozen structures had collapsed in the town of Penonomé, and that there was significant damage to six buildings in Aguadulce.
Telemetro showed footage from Penonomé of a collapsed hotel, the Dos Continentes, where one side of the building had slumped onto parked cars.
Jorge Sánchez, a top police official from Panama’s Coclé province, told the network that the governor’s office and a cathedral were also damaged.
Tocumen International, the country’s main airport, suspended flight operations and began evacuating passengers, the airport authority said in a statement on social media. After about two hours, the airport announced that it was resuming its flight operations after conducting safety inspections.
The Panama Canal Authority said in a statement posted on social media that the canal, one of the most vital passageways of international maritime commerce, continued to operate normally following the quake.
The U.S. Embassy in Panama said there were no initial reports of injuries among its staff or at the embassy.
Susan Hough, a seismologist with U.S.G.S. in Pasadena, Calif., said that based on preliminary information, this was a not a subduction zone earthquake, a potentially more destructive type of quake that could trigger large tsunamis. Instead, it was shallow with mostly lateral movement and struck on land, meaning anyone nearby felt strong shaking.
Dr. Hough said the impact would likely be severe in villages in the sparsely populated region closest to the strongest shaking.
The threat from aftershocks continues, she added.
“This was a relatively energetic after sequence,” Dr. Hough said.
Jack Nicas, John Keefe, Annie Correal, Paulina Villegas, Tracey Eaton and Ryley Ober contributed reporting.
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