Panama declares state of emergency after 7.7 and 6.6 magnitude quake aftershocks

The Story

Panama’s government declared a state of emergency on Saturday after aftershocks from two powerful earthquakes shook communities across the country for hours.

Officials said they had not attributed any deaths to the quakes, but they reported damage in all 10 of Panama’s provinces and two Indigenous territories. The 7.7- and 6.6-magnitude earthquakes struck on Friday and prompted evacuations.

Seismologists recorded more than 100 aftershocks, including events measuring magnitude 5.8, 5.5 and 5.2. The earlier quake, which was also felt in neighbouring Colombia, was centered about 10 kilometres (6 miles) southwest of Pitaloza Arriba, in Panama’s Herrera province, at a depth of 10 kilometres (6 miles), according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

Presidential Minister Juan Carlos Orillac announced the emergency during a news conference in Panama City. He said homes, schools, healthcare facilities, roads and hotels were among the damaged sites.

The National Civil Protection System reported 27 people with injuries, ranging from minor to moderate. The most significant damage was concentrated in Veraguas, Herrera, Coclé and Los Santos, where the agency tallied roughly 420 homes and about the same number of public schools damaged.

Civil Protection also reported damage or impact to seven hotels, at least 13 churches and nine bridges. In La Villa de Los Santos, a colonial-era community about 40 miles (64 kilometres) northeast of the quake’s epicentre, homes and a historical Catholic church collapsed, and people who spent the night on the streets waited for guidance from the government. The Church of San Atanasio was declared a National Historic Heritage Site in 1938.

While officials did not report any missing people on Saturday, some communities remained cut off due to landslides and road damage. In Isla Caña, off the Pacific coast of Los Santos, about 300 people were evacuated because of rising sea levels and rough surf, and in Penonomé, roughly 150 kilometres (93 miles) from Panama City, a shelter was housing 13 people, including five children.

In addition to the damage across the country, the earthquakes caused a partial collapse and cracks at the cathedral in Penonomé’s main square, along with damage to the governor’s office building and the Dos Continentes hotel. In Panama City, one of the water treatment plants supplying the area was operating at 20% capacity on Saturday, and tent facilities with cots were set up at six hospitals.

Tocumen International Airport temporarily suspended operations after the first quake on Friday but reopened hours later. The airport had handled more than 20 million passengers in 2025, and hundreds of travellers on major Panama-based airlines were left stranded in airports around the region after connections through Tocumen were canceled or delayed.

The Panama Canal Authority said operations were continuing normally along the global trade route and that specialized technical teams were inspecting facilities for possible damage. The last major earthquake to cause widespread damage in Panama occurred in 1991, when a magnitude 7.4 quake in nearby Costa Rica killed 23 people and left thousands homeless.

The U.S. Department of State said on Saturday it mobilized a disaster response team to support search and rescue and assessments, and it pledged $5 million for humanitarian assistance. U.S. Southern Command also said two helicopters supported by the State Department’s drug-control bureau delivered 2,000 pounds (907 kilograms) of food to affected communities.