An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.7 hit Panama on Friday, causing the collapse of about a dozen structures 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 USGS. It was centered about 9 miles southwest of Pitaloza Arriba.
It was followed by a series of strong aftershocks 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 longer any 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 have drawn international tourism. In the seaside town of El Venao, the El Sitio Hotel collapsed, according to Miguel Batista, the mayor of Pedasí, a town near the earthquake’s epicenter. Other videos posted on social media showed damage to roads.
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 and 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,” 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.
Panamanian authorities also 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 live 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. But he added that so far authorities knew only of injuries, not deaths.
Tocumen International, the country’s main airport, suspended flight operations and began evacuating passengers, the airport authority said in a statement on social media. The officials said flights would resume once safety inspections of the airport and its air traffic control tower were complete.
Most of the flights bound for Panama City were being diverted to Cartagena in Colombia, or were circling the area, according to FlightAware.
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, continues 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 USGS in Pasadena, California, 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.
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,” Hough said.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
