A 7.7 Earthquake Shakes Panama: Tsunami Alert in Five Countries — How Big Is the Damage?
A powerful earthquake struck southern Panama on October 9, with tsunami warnings along the Pacific coast; official casualty figures were not available in the sources we found.
Two powerful earthquakes struck southern Panama on October 9 at 17:56 UTC, around midday local time. The USGS recorded the main shock at magnitude 7.7 at a depth of 10 kilometers; other reports cite 7.6, and the European center EMSC 7.9. The epicenter is about 11 kilometers southwest of Pitaloza Arriba on the Pacific coast and about 54 kilometers southwest of Chitre.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center first warned of “widespread hazardous tsunami waves,” and later forecast waves of 1 to 3 meters on parts of Panama’s coast, 0.3–1 meter for Ecuador and under 0.3 meters for other countries. Warnings covered Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Nicaragua and Guatemala, and Chile as well. According to The Watchers, the tsunami threat later ended. By USGS estimates, about 36,000 people felt severe shaking and 538,000 very strong shaking.
Videos showed the tower of a historic building collapsing in Penonome, and several balconies fell; in Panama City people ran into the streets. The Education Ministry closed schools, and President Jose Raul Mulino urged calm: “What happened should not be used to cause alarm or disorder.” The sources we found contain no confirmed figures on dead and injured, nor on effects on the Panama Canal. The region has had other strikes this year: twin quakes in Venezuela in June and a magnitude 7.4 quake in Colombia in August.
MKNews Hub · Macedonia · October 10, 2026
