Sports commentators were forced to abandon a live broadcast and flee for safety when a powerful 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck Panama.
The earthquake hit at approximately 1pm local time on Friday, sending violent tremors through Panama’s southern coast and triggering more than 80 aftershocks.
The epicentre was located near the small town of Pitaloza Arriba in Herrera province. The shallow quake struck at a depth of around 10 kilometres.
Tsunami warnings were briefly issued for parts of the eastern Pacific, including Mexico and Chile, by the US tsunami warning system. Those alerts have since been cancelled.
No deaths have been reported, although at least two people are understood to have suffered injuries.
Dramatic footage captured the moment a group of sports broadcasters ran from their studio as the earthquake rocked the building around them, eventually plunging the set into darkness.
The five presenters initially exchanged bewildered looks as the walls and light fixtures behind them began shaking visibly.
When the movement intensified, some dropped their microphones while others carried the equipment as they stood up and rushed out of the building.
Five sports broadcasters were live on air when the 7.7-magnitude earthquake began shaking the studio
The presenters looked stunned as the walls and overhead lights started swaying violently
The broadcasters soon ran to safety, with several still holding their microphones
The US Geological Survey first recorded the earthquake as magnitude 8.0 before later revising the estimate to 7.7.
The shallow tremor was felt across Panama, a Central American country of roughly 4.5 million people, and caused buildings and roads to collapse in parts of the interior, according to the National Civil Protection System.
Rene Garcia, the head of emergency operations, said there had been no confirmed fatalities at that stage.
Around 200 kilometres from the epicentre, residents in Panama City were seen fleeing the city’s landmark skyscrapers amid widespread panic.
Salomon Andion, 46, said he was forced to leave his 15-storey building for a second time after further aftershocks struck.
“I was scared because the shaking was very strong and lasted a long time,” he said.
“Heavy items, including dressers, the bed and everything in the kitchen, were shaking.”
A widely shared video also appeared to show water spilling from the rooftop pool of a building more than 20 storeys high.
Cars were left trapped beneath rubble after the 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck near Penonome
St John the Baptist Cathedral in Penonome was severely damaged during the tremours
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Another showed a bridge over the Panama Canal shaking violently, but remaining upright as vehicles travelled across it.
Panama’s President Jose Raul Mulino said: ‘We are facing a major disaster,’ adding that some roads had ‘completely collapsed.’
Juana Alveo, a 38-year-old cashier at a store in the city of Penonome in central Cocle province, said: ‘It was horrible, like nothing we ever experienced. My daughter was trapped in school.’
The two injuries were reported by people trapped in different collapsed structures – one near a church in Veraguas, the other in a collapsed hotel in Cocle, authorities said.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote on X on Friday that he was ‘closely monitoring’ the situation, with his office ‘rapidly mobilizing resources and personnel to assist,’ at the Panamanian government’s request.
The Panama Canal Authority said shipping through the channel, which connects the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, was unaffected and operating ‘as normal’.
Mulino travelled to Penonome to coordinate the disaster response.
Health Minister Fernando Boyd said that the most affected areas were the provinces of Herrera and Cocle, as well as Los Santos.
Rubble from the damaged buildings blocked roads in Panama after Friday’s earthquake
One building entirely collapsed on one side, leaving cars buried beneath the debris
He said the town of Tonosi in Los Santos was completely cut off, adding: ‘We are trying to figure out how to get there by air, because it’s impossible by land.’
Panama City’s international airport, a major hub for the region, was temporarily closed.
Several flights were diverted to other airports as a precaution, according to the Civil Aeronautics Authority.
The leaders of Colombia, Ecuador and Guatemala all sent messages of solidarity and offers of aid.
Earthquakes are rare in Panama and usually occur in the western Chiriqui province, bordering Costa Rica.
Former president Ricardo Martinelli posted pictures on Instagram of his house in the town of Sona in Veraguas province, which had completely collapsed.
A church and a hotel in Penonome also suffered extensive damage, images shared on local media showed.
More than 80 aftershocks, one above magnitude 6.0, were recorded by the local geosciences institute.
President Mulino called for calm, posting on X: ‘What happened should not be used to generate alarm and disorder,’ adding that he had called for a report on the damage.
The education ministry announced the suspension of classes in schools nationwide.
The Panamanian quake is at least the fourth quake this year in Latin America surpassing 7.0 in magnitude, after devastating back-to-back earthquakes in Venezuela’s Guaira in June and a powerful earthquake in western Colombia in August.