Magnitude 6.1 Earthquake Strikes Panama Near Río Grande in Aftershock Sequence

Developing story. Updated 02:46 UTC.

PANAMA CITY, Panama. A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck western Panama on Monday evening, the U.S. Geological Survey said. It was the latest strong tremor in a sequence that started with a magnitude 7.7 quake on Friday, October 9.

The USGS said the quake hit at 6:20 p.m. local time on Monday, October 12. That is 23:20 UTC. Its center was 17 kilometers west of Río Grande, in Veraguas province, at a depth of 11 kilometers. The agency marked the solution as reviewed. It recorded no tsunami flag for the event, and its PAGER system set the alert level at green, the lowest level.

Reuters reported a magnitude 6 earthquake in Panama on Monday, citing the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre. The centre put the depth at 35 kilometers. Agencies often give different early numbers for the same quake, because they use different stations and methods. The centre's event page also lists the U.S. National Earthquake Information Center solution for the same time, at magnitude 6.1 and a depth of 10 kilometers.

Felt reports and a quick follow-on tremor

People reported feeling the quake. By early Tuesday, the USGS had collected 56 felt reports. Its modelled shake map listed Santiago, a city of 46,000 people in Veraguas, at moderate shaking, with stronger shaking modelled closer to the center.

Sixteen minutes later, a magnitude 4.9 tremor struck the same area, at 23:36 UTC, the USGS said. It put that quake 17 kilometers west of Río Grande as well. It was also reviewed, and it also had no tsunami flag.

No new toll tied to Monday's quake

Reports on Monday night gave no confirmed damage or injuries from this tremor. Livemint, covering the Reuters and centre reports, said details about damage from Monday's quake were not immediately available. That gap matters. The toll in the news since Friday belongs to the earlier quake and its first aftershocks, not to the Monday evening tremor.

Reuters said Panama had recorded more than 300 aftershocks since Friday's magnitude 7.7 earthquake. That quake damaged hundreds of homes and other buildings across the central provinces. The government declared a national state of emergency over the weekend. No deaths were reported. At least 27 people were injured, and nearly 900 homes were damaged, emergency authorities said. Officials warned that those counts could rise as teams reach remote communities. The provinces hit hardest were Los Santos, Coclé, Veraguas and Herrera, Reuters said.

Veraguas is on that list, and Río Grande sits in Veraguas. So Monday's tremor struck a province still counting damage from Friday. It also struck while the emergency order was in place and assessments were still under way.

Aftershocks have kept coming for three days, and this one reached magnitude 6.1, well above the small tremors most residents feel and move on from. The Orbit Post will update this story when Panamanian authorities or the USGS release a damage assessment for Monday's quake, or revise its numbers.