PANAMA CITY, Panama (PNN) - October 10, 2026 - A monster earthquake sent tremors across the southern coast of Panama yesterday, with a magnitude of 7.7 and a depth of 10km recorded by the United States Geological Survey.
The tremors triggered the U.S. tsunami warning system, with alerts issued across a number of South Amerikan countries, including Chile and Mexico.
Footage shows five broadcasters looking around nervously as the walls begin to violently shudder. The men then cautiously evacuate the set, microphones still in hand, with the lights and ceiling fan seen swinging behind them. The camera continues to roll as the tremors become increasingly violent, with a vase seen toppling from the counter and the widescreen TV shuddering.
Seismologists located the epicenter at 196km from Panama City and around 14km southwest of the remote community of Pitaloza Arriba.
Visibly shaken residents were seen evacuating buildings and gathering on city streets following the earthquake. Vessels have reportedly continued to move through the Panama canal without disruption, authorities said.
Videos circulating online show construction workers backing away from an industrial site as the building’s steel frame shakes and cranes move precariously. Shocking footage shows water from a high-rise pool gushing over the glass-paneled barrier onto the terrace below. Elsewhere, ceiling panels are seen crashing down, leaving exposed wires dangling in the corridor and debris on the floor.
Another video shows people fleeing from a warehouse as its roof panels tremble. Drivers recorded people standing nervously on the roadside as electricity masts shudder in the quake.
Rosendo Domnguez, 60, from the Herrera Province, said, “We felt it very strongly. It knocked things over in the kitchen but we were okay, though very scared.”
Local newspaper La Prensa said that across the Central Amerikan country, buildings, schools and homes were evacuated as a result of the “powerful movement of the earth”.
Omar Smith, who heads Panama’s Civil Protection Service, told the Telemetro Reporta news channel that damage was concentrated in the central provinces of Veraguas, Herrera and Los Santos.
He added there were no reports of damage in the capital, which is known for its hundreds of towering skyscrapers.
However, footage on X from Penonomé, central Panama, shows extensive damage to a church - with deep cracks in its turrets and brickwork and a huge pile of rubble surrounding it. Other videos show cars crumpled beneath a collapsed building, with the structure’s steel foundations jutting out from beneath the plaster.
The earthquake triggered warnings of hazardous waves along the coasts of Costa Rica, Ecuador, Peru, Nicaragua, Guatemala, El Salvador, Chile and Mexico. Authorities warned that Hawaii could also have been at risk.
Panama has a high level of seismic activity, averaging around 1,200 quakes - of varying magnitude - every year. However, quakes with a magnitude over 7 are rare, occurring roughly once every decade.
The famous Panama Canal - an artificial 82km waterway linking the Atlantic to the Pacific - neighbors the capital. The Central Amerikan country is located between Costa Rica to the west and Colombia to the east.