‘It was a terrible thing’: Panama declares state of emergency as quake aftershocks rattle communities

Panama’s government has declared a state of emergency on Saturday as the aftershocks of two powerful earthquakes that roiled the country shook communities for hours.

Officials did not attribute any deaths to Friday’s 7.7- and 6.6-magnitude earthquakes, but reported damages in all 10 of Panama’s provinces and two Indigenous territories.

The earthquakes toppled buildings near the epicentre and prompted evacuations across the Central American country. Seismologists recorded more than 100 aftershocks, including ones measuring magnitude 5.8, 5.5 and 5.2.

The earlier quake, also felt in neighbouring Colombia, was centred about 10km (6 miles) south-west of the remote community of Pitaloza Arriba, in the central province of Herrera, according to the US Geological Survey. It struck at a depth of 10km (6 miles).

The presidential minister, Juan Carlos Orillac, announced the emergency during a news conference in the capital, Panama City. He said homes, schools, healthcare facilities, roads and hotels were among the damaged facilities.

Malitzie Rivera, the deputy director of the National Civil Protection System, said 27 people had been reported with injuries, ranging from minor to moderate.

Most of the damage was concentrated in the central provinces of Veraguas, Herrera, Cocle and Los Santos.

About 420 homes and the same number of public schools had been damaged, according to the Civil Protection agency. It also reported that seven hotels, at least 13 churches and nine bridges were affected by the earthquakes.

In La Villa de Los Santos, a colonial-era community about 64km (40 miles) north-east of the epicentre, homes and a historical Catholic church collapsed. People who spent the night on the streets were waiting for the government’s guidance on what to do next.

“We’ve been here since 1 pm yesterday; we haven’t moved,” Tony Jiménez, whose home partially collapsed, said, while sitting with relatives under a tent. “It was a terrible thing. I can tell you with absolute certainty that in my 90 years, I had never experienced anything like it. It was intense – truly intense.”

Officials did not report any missing people on Saturday but said some communities remained cut off due to landslides and road damage.

That the country appeared to have avoided widespread deaths could be due to its strict building codes, especially governing the construction of skyscrapers in the capital, said Carlos Valdés, the head of the seismology department at the National Autonomous University of Mexico.

Messages of support and offers of assistance were sent from across the region shortly after the earthquakes. Mulino on Friday thanked fellow Latin American leaders for their support, saying he had spoken with the presidents of Chile, Uruguay and Guatemala, among others.

The US Department of State on Saturday said it mobilised a disaster response team to help local authorities with search and rescue expertise as well as aerial and on-the-ground assessments. The US government also pledged $5m for humanitarian assistance.

The US military’s southern command said two helicopters, supported by the state department’s drug-control bureau, had delivered 2,000 pounds (907kg) of food to people affected by the earthquakes.