Panama's National Civil Protection System (Sinaproc) has reported 27 injured and, as of Saturday, no deaths or missing persons after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake. The quake struck south-central Panama at 12:56 p.m. local time on 9 October 2026. The US Geological Survey (USGS) placed the epicenter near Pitaloza Arriba, in Herrera province, at a depth of 10 to 12 kilometers. Panama's Geosciences Institute measured the main shock at 7.5. A second tremor of magnitude 6.6 followed.
In La Villa de Los Santos, Tony Jiménez, 90, sat under a tent with relatives after his home partially collapsed. "I can tell you with absolute certainty that in my 90 years, I had never experienced anything like it," he said, in remarks carried by news reports. The Church of San Atanasio, a national heritage site since 1938, collapsed in the same town. This article asks one question: why has the human toll, so far, been far lower than in Venezuela and Colombia?
What the tallies show, and what they leave open
Early official tallies report damage to more than 426 homes, 419 schools, 21 health facilities, seven hotels, at least 13 churches and nine bridges. Damage has been reported in all 10 provinces and in two Indigenous territories (comarcas), Ngäbe-Buglé and Emberá. Herrera, Los Santos, Veraguas and Coclé were hit hardest. Several communities remain cut off by landslides and road damage. These are early assessments and are likely to change.
The comparison with the region's other earthquakes this year is stark. Crisis.Zone reported that Venezuela's June doublet quakes struck a coast with weak building oversight. Venezuela's interim government has since put the death toll above 6,500, while independent estimates put the number unaccounted for at 31,000 to 50,000, as our analysis of the response set out. In Colombia, where a magnitude 7.4 quake struck in August, at least 289 deaths have been reported. Official and civilian missing-persons counts diverged sharply there.
Panama's residents do not describe a population at ease. "We weren't prepared for this kind of event," said Aldulfo Quintero, 41, clearing debris from a store in Chitré. Whether preparation in buildings differed from preparation in households is the question the next section examines.
Observers are reading: Why the building-code explanation needs more evidence, and how $100 million in relief funds compares with USGS loss estimates.
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A provisional answer
The best-supported answer so far is also a partial one. One seismologist points to building codes, and the material reviewed contains no engineering inspections or enforcement records to test that claim.
The crisis is not over. The University of Panama's Geosciences Institute warns that aftershocks may persist for several weeks along a fault extending roughly 230 kilometers west toward Coiba Island. The institute's count passed 170 aftershocks on Saturday, four of them above magnitude 6.0. "We can't live like this. Everyone is afraid because the earthquakes are constant, we don't dare to return," said Javier Jimenez, 68, who slept at the school in Macaracas. In Chitré, Yakshuri Castillo, 28, chose to sleep outdoors.
If the low toll holds, it will say something about how Panama prepared its buildings. Reaching cut-off communities and reassuring people afraid to go home is a separate capacity. The coming weeks, not the first days, will measure it.
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