Thread: Earthquake of magnitude 5.6 in south of Panama

Hi!

Was anyone afected by the earthquake yesterday at 3:37:40 PM?

Location of earthquake:
265 km (165 miles) S of David, Panama
295 km (180 miles) S of Golfito, Costa Rica
295 km (185 miles) SW of Santiago, Panama
475 km (295 miles) SW of PANAMA CITY, Panama

I hope you are all well.

How often do they experience having these earthquakes? Are there any serious injuries or damages to business establishments because of the earthquake? I hope everybody from Panama is doing well.

I never heard of any serious earthquakes happening in Panama. I too want to know how often they occur... anyone know?

Panama is said to be a virtually earthquake-free zone. There has been no major destructive earthquake for the past 100+ years. That's probably reflected in the building standards though, so if a big one does come along the results will be disastrous.

So this earthquake must have come by surprise for people living in Panama since they rarely experience earthquakes. Let us just hope and pray that strong earthquakes will not pass by this country.

That earthquake happened a while ago. I don't think it really was that big of a deal. I haven't heard of anyone specifically who was hurt. I hope everyone here is fine. Panama doesn't get noticeable earthquakes much at all.

Panama is said to be a virtually earthquake-free zone. There has been no major destructive earthquake for the past 100+ years. That's probably reflected in the building standards though, so if a big one does come along the results will be disastrous.

Interesting perspective. But I think I'll take my chances...

I think most buildings are made to resist earthquakes, even when they are built in areas that are prone not to have earthquakes. Unfortunately, people do not always follow safety codes, wherever you go.

I hear you mariee! I once had an earthquake "experience" waking up in my hotel room while traveling in Mexico City, and the first thing I did was hide under the table... until I realized I better get out of the building ASAP!
I was SUPER scared... the building was actually shaking from side to side. I later found out that the building was "earthquake proof" and very stable and the shaking from side to side was due to its safe construction.

You old Panama pal here is no engineer, but I think the shaking probably helped absorb the shock waves. As they say, the tree that bends doesn't break, and that tree that doesn't bend breaks.

Richter magnitude scale - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
There's a reason why no one was hurt--they hardly knew it happened!! A basically small earthquake (under 7) that far out to sea and all that would really happen on land would be...nada...
A slight rumble like living close to a train terminal perhaps, but not much more. Even your everyday 4.5 in Los Angeles doesn't generate this much concern!

Cheers.

Does it make big waves at the seashore?

Originally Posted by tallman33

Does it make big waves at the seashore?

That's a tsunami. Those usually occur when there is massive displacement of the submerged crust that pushes the water directionally, when that water encounters a shelf it just keep rushing up the beach, since its been squished into a smaller area. I'm not too familar with Panama's submerged coast, it probably has some shelf areas, but since there haven't been any gigantic tsunamis reported in recent (past 500 years) years, I wouldn't worry about it.
------------
Panama gets larger waves from storm surge than anything else. A surfer friend of mine who lives in P.C. just sent me an email saying he was heading up to some of the Caribbean beaches to take advantage of Hurricaine Dean's storm surge. Since it passed by the Yucatan yesterday, the waves are still kicking it on the northern coasts. Should be killer surf.

Cheers.

When I say big waves, I didn't mean deadly waves. I just meant fun waves.

Originally Posted by tallman33

When I say big waves, I didn't mean deadly waves. I just meant fun waves.

And I hate to quote myself, but I will:

Panama gets larger waves from storm surge than anything else. A surfer friend of mine who lives in P.C. just sent me an email saying he was heading up to some of the Caribbean beaches to take advantage of Hurricaine Dean's storm surge. Since it passed by the Yucatan yesterday, the waves are still kicking it on the northern coasts. Should be killer surf.

That is killer surf, as in, "Hey dude, are you hitting the waves later? It should be killer surf out there today!"

Cheers.

In this day and age such things can probably happen anywhere...

Look at Hurricane Katrina, and the Tsunami... I think it's best just to prepare for such things, and hope that it won't end your life. However, the data is still useful, but like I said weird things have been happening lately so you shouldn't solely rely on that data.

That's true. Natural disasters can happen in unexpected places. I think New Orleans is a common place for hurricanes to hit, though.

Originally Posted by Charlez

In this day and age such things can probably happen anywhere...

Look at Hurricane Katrina, and the Tsunami... I think it's best just to prepare for such things, and hope that it won't end your life. However, the data is still useful, but like I said weird things have been happening lately so you shouldn't solely rely on that data.

These two disasters are neither weird, nor unlikely--just seriously unlucky. New Orleans was devastated when the levees broke; why have levees in the first place unless your city is built substantially below sea level in a known hurricane belt? The U.S. Gulf of Mexico coast gets pummeled every year, it was just a matter of time until one hit N.O. and demonstrated that no matter now cocky humans are, the weather will win eventually.

As for the Boxing Day Tsunami, it happened along the Pacific Ring of Fire, and managed to hit Thailand, which was crawling with Aussie and Euro travelers--you can bet it would not have had a tenth of the coverage if it had swamped an undeveloped, non-tourist laden country. Sad, but true.

Pacific Ring of Fire - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

We hear more and more about these things on the news because there is better coverage; ppl show up with their own digital cameras, movie and still, ppl have their cell phones, and their sat phones, and can contact each other much more readily. Ten years ago, this would have happened and we all would have said,'Oh my, that's horrible,' but we wouldn't have had three days of constant coverage supplemented by someone's Cousin Tim's shots of waves from his Phuket balcony as the tsunami crashed home.

As it stands, from a severe weather point of view, Panama is blissfully calm! Yeah!


Cheers.

Good points! The world is the same, it's just more connected and we have a bigger picture of it and put more emphasis on the bad things.

That said, I wouldn't want to experience an earthquake while in Panama. But if it happened I would probably take a video of it.

I went to museum in Alaska about a huge earthquake there. It was so major that there were big waves going through the ground like they would in the ocean at the beach. The land would break up and there would be deep holes. That scared me.

Panama has a high risk of earthquakes, which scares me away. Read here about earthquakes in Panama:

http://www.panama-guide.com/article....60212130423299

http://www.panama-guide.com/earthquakes/


Earthquakes - Is Panama Ready for the Big One?

Sunday, February 12 2006 @ 01:04 PM EST
Contributed by: Don Winner
Views: 4,628
Earthquakes happen in Panama. In fact, there is a 50% of probability that it could happen at any time, according to the the directors of the Institute of Geociencias and the National System of Civil defense, Eduardo Camacho and Roberto Velásquez, respectively. But the idea is not to alarm but to educate. For that reason, in 2006 the goal is make sure people know what to do before, during, and after a big powerful earthquake. To educate to the population on the measures to take before, during and after an earthquake is one of the priorities established this year for the National Civil Defense System (Sinaproc). There is a "high probability" that an earthquake will hit Panama. The problem is that it's very difficult to predict when, where, and how it will happen. The goal is to prepare the public who, according to the Director of the SINAPROC rescue office, are not even aware of the risk.



The problem is that the threat is latent, according to Eduardo Camacho, Director of the Geosciences Institute of the University of Panama, who says that there are a considerable amount of active geologic faults in Panama, where without a doubt earthquakes can and will happen.

In addition, he adds, the seismic history of the country confirms the tendency, and shows that there have been earthquakes greater than 7.0 on the Richter scale.

"There is no part of Panama that is completely safe from earthquakes", Camacho said, although he added that the zones with greater danger are to the West in Chiriquí and the Darién.

He emphasized mainly that the probabilities for an earthquake are estimated at over 50% "because there are zones where there have not been an earthquake for more than 80 years".

He reminds us that on 25 December 2003 Chiriquí was shaken by an earthquake of 6.0 degrees, which he called "a caress" in comparison to the earthquake of 8 July 1934 which was 7.7 degrees on the Richter scale.

According to the latest information, between 14 December 2005 and 9 February 2006, 15 tremors have been recorded.

The worry of Velasquez is shared by Camacho, that the population must be educated on what to do and, in addition, the country must begin to build according to the antiseismic norms.

Velasquez added that the biggest problem they face is the general feeling among the people that "nothing happens here."

He warned, on the contrary, that Panama is a country experiencing earthquakes that are more frequent and more intense every day. "Nobody can say when an earthquake will happen, but is important to know what is due to do", he said.

In his opinion, the best prevention will be obtained when people are made to understand that they are not out of danger.

+++++

Hi!
We experienced an earthquake back in 2001 in Bocas del Torro that registered 6.5 on the Richter scale. I then did further research and found that there are a lot of "tremors" around that area of the Costa Rica border.

The people along the Costa Rica border get a lot of "tremors"--as far as I was concerned if the earth moves it is an "earthquake" and not a tremor!

I live near the El Valle area, about 1-1/2 hours from Panama City, and have NEVER felt anything like a "tremor" or earthquake. There are 3 faults that converge in the Pacific near David and that is the reason for all of the "tremors" up there.

Mary
www.whypanama.com

Intresting

Magnitude 5.8 - SOUTH OF PANAMA

Almost the same place as other earthquakes over the past few months.

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/...us2008tjbi.php

How do the buildings in Panama withstand earthquakes?

the arco chato an historic building in panama withstanded hundred of years...

Thats good, are earthquakes a common event?

biq recent quakes only one in Bocas del Toro around 1991, there are about 2 or 3 quakes a year here in panama but all of them minor ones.... there is mayor tectonic plate that passes thru panama than in theory someday can provoke a big one but historically mayor quakes have been in 1621, 1882, 1913, 1934 and the 1991 event (M=7.5 Richter)... besides that sismic activity is minor in comparisson with the rest of central america and colombia.... Maybe because Panama was a "geologic creation", and it emerged from the sea bonding north and south america, its soil is hard as hell so quakes dont ressonate or travel very efficiently.

Another earthquake in the usual place south of David in the Pacific. It's quite shallow for an earthquake since most occur at a depth of at least 10 km. Here's the report from the US Geological Service:

5.5 Mw - SOUTH OF PANAMA

Preliminary Earthquake ReportMagnitude5.5 MwDate-Time

• 14 Aug 2008 22:55:47 UTC
• 14 Aug 2008 16:55:47 near epicenter
• 14 Aug 2008 22:55:47 standard time in your timezone

Location7.350N 82.746WDepth4 kmDistances

• 125 km (78 miles) SSW (196 degrees) of David, Panama
• 213 km (132 miles) WSW (246 degrees) of Santiago, Panama
• 227 km (141 miles) SSW (194 degrees) of Bocas del Toro, Panama
• 327 km (203 miles) SSE (154 degrees) of SAN JOSE, Costa Rica

Location UncertaintyHorizontal: 5.6 km; Vertical ParametersNph = 208; Dmin = 378.2 km; Rmss = 1.10 seconds; Gp = 64°
M-type = Mw; Version = 7 Event IDUS 2008vsch ***This event has been revised.
For updates, maps, and technical information, see:
Event Page
or
U.S.G.S. Earthquake Hazards Program
National Earthquake Information Center
U.S. Geological Survey
http://neic.usgs.gov

A bigger earthquake near David:
6.2 Mw - PANAMA-COSTA RICA BORDER REGION

Preliminary Earthquake ReportMagnitude6.2 MwDate-Time

• 19 Nov 2008 06:11:22 UTC
• 19 Nov 2008 01:11:22 near epicenter
• 19 Nov 2008 01:11:22 standard time in your timezone

Location8.295N 82.928WDepth48 kmDistances

• 57 km (35 miles) WSW (254 degrees) of David, Panama
• 137 km (85 miles) SSW (213 degrees) of Bocas del Toro, Panama
• 190 km (118 miles) S (177 degrees) of Limon, Costa Rica
• 226 km (140 miles) SE (146 degrees) of SAN JOSE, Costa Rica

Location UncertaintyHorizontal: 6.6 km; Vertical 11.0 kmParametersNph = 207; Dmin = 313.4 km; Rmss = 1.09 seconds; Gp = 72°
M-type = Mw; Version = 7 Event IDUS 2008zpan ***This event supersedes event AT00707507.
For updates, maps, and technical information, see:
Event Page
or
U.S.G.S. Earthquake Hazards Program
National Earthquake Information Center
U.S. Geological Survey
http://neic.usgs.gov