Summary
Rare strong earthquake strikes Panama with 7.7 magnitude
Panama Canal operating normally; international flights resume
No deaths, injuries or major damage reported.
PANAMA CITY, Oct 9 (Reuters) - A magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck southern Panama on Friday, damaging buildings and sending thousands into the streets, but the country appeared to escape widespread destruction or deaths.
The US Geological Survey said the earthquake hit at a depth of 12.6 km (7.8 miles), with an epicenter in a sparsely populated area about 200 km (124 miles) from the capital, and that some casualties were possible.
In the following hours, even as more than 40 aftershocks rattled the isthmus nation, the Panama Canal and Cobre Panama copper mine reported normal operations and the Tocumen International Airport lifted a suspension on flights.
Office workers in the upscale business hub of downtown Panama City fretted about how to get home in the snarl of traffic, after the quake sent thousands into the streets.
Juan Sanchez, a 37-year-old economy ministry employee, waited for a bus he said he doubted would arrive.
"They evacuated all of these buildings. Everyone is outside. Now the problem is, how do we get home?"
President Raul Mulino traveled to Penonome, a city about halfway between the epicenter and Panama City, where some buildings collapsed and a church was damaged.
Despite the force of Friday's tremor, the country appeared to have been spared the destruction of other recent powerful quakes in the region, with no deaths or injuries immediately reported.
Back-to-back quakes in Venezuela in June killed several thousand people, while a quake in Colombia in August killed more than 300.
An exposure report by the USGS estimated about 43,000 Panamanians lived in areas with at least severe exposure to the quake. This compares to nearly 1.4 million in the area of the twin quakes in Venezuela and over 1.6 million in the quake-hit zone of western Colombia.