A powerful 7.6-magnitude earthquake struck Panama on Friday, October 9, 2026, shaking buildings across the country, damaging historic churches and triggering a Pacific-wide tsunami threat that was later called off. The quake hit at 1:56 p.m. ET (17:56 UTC) near the rural community of Pitaloza Arriba in Herrera Province, at a shallow depth of 10 kilometers, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).
Third-strongest quake of 2026
The USGS initially pegged the quake at magnitude 8.0 before revising it to a final reviewed magnitude of 7.6 — still the third-strongest earthquake of 2026, behind only two magnitude-7.8 quakes: one in the Philippines on June 7 and another in Indonesia on August 14, according to Fox Weather.
Shaking was felt across all of Panama and as far away as Costa Rica's capital, San José, and parts of Colombia, Reuters witnesses reported. The USGS estimated that roughly 36,000 people felt severe shaking, with another 538,000 experiencing very strong tremors. In Panama City, hundreds of people fled skyscrapers into the streets as buildings swayed.
Tsunami threat issued, then lifted
The U.S. Tsunami Warning System issued a tsunami threat for the coasts of Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Nicaragua and Guatemala, warning that waves of 1 to 3 meters (3 to 10 feet) above tide level were possible along some Panamanian coasts, with up to 1 meter forecast for Ecuador. Smaller surges were forecast for Costa Rica, Mexico, Peru, Chile and even Japan, and Hawaii appeared in early threat information.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC) later downgraded the forecast for Ecuador and, in its fourth message issued at 19:40 UTC on October 9, confirmed that no tsunami warning, advisory, watch or threat remained in effect. There was no tsunami threat to the United States.
Churches damaged, injuries reported
Panama's National Civil Protection Service (SINAPROC) reported structural damage concentrated in the central provinces of Herrera, Veraguas and Los Santos. The most dramatic damage came in Penonomé, in Coclé Province, where the bell tower of the San Juan Bautista Cathedral collapsed, the facade of the Hotel Dos Continentes partially fell onto a car, and the provincial governor's office was damaged — all captured in footage independently verified by Reuters.
Elsewhere, part of the tower of the BasÃlica Menor in Atalaya, Veraguas, collapsed, and cracks appeared in the bell tower of the San Atanasio Church in Los Santos. In Herrera Province, residents of Las Minas reported damaged homes. Power company Naturgy reported outages across six provinces, Tocumen airport briefly suspended flights, the Panama City Metro halted service, and classes were suspended nationwide. The Panama Canal continued operating normally.
No deaths were documented as of Friday evening, but SINAPROC director Omar Smith told the Telemetro Reporta news channel that several people were injured, including one person hurt by falling debris from a partially collapsed structure in Penonomé.
What officials and residents are saying
President José Raúl Mulino called for calm, writing on X: "What happened should not be used to cause alarm or disorder." Later he acknowledged the scale of the damage: "Nobody was ready, and no one is ever ready for this type of disaster," adding, "We are facing a major disaster."
"We felt it very strongly. It knocked things over in the kitchen, but we're okay, though we're very scared... Everyone is outside, scared." — Rosendo DomÃnguez, 60, from Herrera Province, speaking to the Associated Press
Dozens of aftershocks rattled the region in the hours after the main shock, the strongest a magnitude 6.6, with the University of Panama's Institute of Geosciences recording a 6.9 aftershock at 3:25 p.m. local time. Geoscientist Néstor Luque attributed the quake to the Azuero–Soná Fault System.
The takeaway: Panama has escaped the worst-case scenario — no confirmed fatalities and the tsunami threat lifted — but the damage to historic landmarks and infrastructure in the central provinces will take months to repair, and aftershocks remain a risk.
Music in this post's reel: Kevin MacLeod - Volatile Reaction (incompetech.com), licensed under CC BY 3.0
Sources: The Watchers, Fox Weather, Daily Sabah (AP)