Panama Earthquake Today Not A Big Issue Says USGS; No Life-Threatening Events Took Place According to Reports

Panama earthquake today - a quake struck Panama at around 4:13 pm local time and a tsunami warning has already been declared. However, the USGS claims that because the recorded tremor of the Panama earthquake today was at 5.8 magnitude, foreboding threats are not an issue.

The 5.8 magnitude earthquake in Panama centered in the ocean about 37 miles south of David, at a depth of 17.3 miles. Authorities say that it's possibly related to the Chilean earthquake that was felt along the South American coastline.

Inquisitr reports experts believe that the Chile quake triggered the Cocos plate to shift leading to the 5.8 magnitude rumbling felt in David, Panama.

"The Panama Fracture Zone terminates in the south at the Galapagos rift zone and in the north at the Middle America trench, where it forms part of the Cocos-Nazca-Caribbean triple junction. Earthquakes along the Panama Fracture Zone are generally shallow, low- to intermediate in magnitude (M<7.2) and are characteristically right-lateral strike-slip faulting earthquakes. Since 1900, the largest earthquake to occur along the Panama Fracture Zone was the July 26, 1962 M7.2 earthquake," the official USGS statement reads.

Initial reports about the Panama earthquake today claimed that it was a 6.2 magnitude, but it was revised late on into 5.8.

Panama's head of emergency services said that no local reports indicate serious damages or injuries thus far, but schools and homes in the area were the tremor was felt were evacuated as a precaution.

The USGS tweeted that there were no reports of any life-threatening situations during and after the rumbling in Panama today.

On other news, the 8.2 magnitude Chilean quake generated a tsunami warning for Ecuador and Peru, and several authorities even fear that the geological rumblings might stimulate the explosion of Peru's volcanoes soon. The "big one" is yet to come says the USGS.

As of this writing, updates on tsunami warnings and quake risks are being made by experts to prevent alarm people of possible life-threatening events apart from the Chilean quake and the Panama earthquake today.

Real Time Analytics