In the towns of central Panama, many families are still sleeping in the street. The ground has not stopped moving since Friday, when a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck, and the government has now put the whole country under a state of emergency.
The main shock hit around midday at a shallow depth of about 10 kilometres in Herrera province, US seismologists said, followed by a second quake of magnitude 6.6. More than 200 aftershocks have been logged since, a few close to magnitude 6. A local geoscientist, Nestor Luke, told Reuters the tremors are now coming less often and with less force.
The toll on buildings is heavy. Authorities count close to 900 damaged homes, around 420 schools, churches, hotels and at least 14 bridges, with Veraguas, Herrera, Coclé and Los Santos worst affected. Some villages can only be reached with difficulty because slopes slid onto the roads. In the old colonial town of Villa de Los Santos a historic church gave way, and in the city of Chitré residents cleared rubble from shops while fearing another jolt. So far the authorities have not confirmed a single fatality, while 27 people needed treatment for injuries.
Carlos Valdés, who studies earthquakes in Mexico City, thinks tough construction rules spared the country worse. Large quakes are rare there and tend to occur in the far west near Costa Rica, which is why many residents said they felt unprepared.
The emergency decree lets President José Raúl Mulino’s government release as much as 100 million dollars for relief without breaching its deficit target. The United States pledged 5 million dollars, sent a disaster team and flew in food by helicopter. Schools are closed nationwide on Monday, while the Panama Canal reports no disruption to shipping.
