A strong earthquake shakes Panama... and a tsunami warning

Bethlehem - Ofoq News - A strong earthquake struck Panama, estimated by the US Geological Survey at 7.6 on the Richter scale, which sparked a state of panic in the capital, coinciding with the issuance of a warning of the danger of a tsunami.

The earthquake's magnitude was initially estimated at eight magnitudes, before the estimate was revised.

The US Geological Survey said that the earthquake was detected at 17:56 GMT, and that its epicenter was located ten kilometers from the small town of Petalosa Arriba in central and southern Panama, according to what was reported by Agence France-Presse.

The Panama Canal Authority reported that the waterway is operating normally.

The earthquake prompted the American tsunami warning system to warn of the possibility of dangerous tsunami waves reaching parts of the coasts of Panama, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Peru, Nicaragua, Guatemala, El Salvador and Mexico during the next three hours.

The system also said that there was a potential threat of a tsunami in Hawaii, according to Reuters.