A significant 7.7 magnitude earthquake struck near the southern coast of Panama on Friday, causing damage to homes in areas like Las Minas in Herrera province, and Penonome City. While rare in Panama, the quake triggered panic amongst residents, including elderly individuals fearing structural collapses. Fortunately, operations at the vital Panama Canal remained unaffected. Reports of impacts were also received in Chitre and Los Santos province in Panama, as well as felt in San Jose, Costa Rica. Damage included collapsed buildings in Penonome and temporarily suspended metro service in Panama City. A nationwide school closure was implemented in Panama due to the disaster. A tsunami warning was issued by the US Tsunami Warning System, covering Panama and several other countries in Central and South America, including Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Peru, Nicaragua, Guatemala, El Salvador and Mexico, as well as Hawaii, and Chile's navy also issued a tsunami alert.