Article written: October 16, 2026
No high-rise in the capital collapsed like in Venezuela, and the government’s emergency report listed only minor damage to four condominium buildings and some businesses in Panama province. But structural engineers are clear that the capital felt a small fraction of the shaking that hit the Azuero Peninsula, and that the real test for the city’s towers will come from a different fault, much closer to home.
The main quake struck at 12:56 p.m. on Friday, October 9, near Pitaloza Arriba in Herrera province, at a depth of about 10 kilometers. The U.S. Geological Survey measured it at magnitude 7.7. Panama’s civil protection agency, Sinaproc, lists it at 7.5. Hundreds of aftershocks followed, including one above magnitude 6.
How Strong Was the Shaking in Panama City Compared to Azuero?
Magnitude describes the energy released at the source. What a building actually feels is ground acceleration at its location, and that number dropped sharply between the epicenter and the capital.
Dr. Oscar Ramírez, a structural and seismic engineering professor at the Universidad Tecnológica de Panamá (UTP), released the readings from UTP’s accelerograph network this week:
| Location | Peak ground acceleration (g) |
|---|---|
| Azuero and Veraguas (near the epicenter) | 0.57 to 0.60 |
| Penonomé, Coclé | 0.24 |
| Panama City (surface) | 0.08 to 0.10 |
In other words, the ground in Panama City moved with roughly one-sixth to one-seventh of the force recorded near the epicenter. Professor Ramiro Vargas, vice dean of UTP’s civil engineering faculty, told TVN that 85% to 90% of the seismic wave had dissipated by the time it reached the capital. Architect and urban planner Carlos Antonio Solís put the felt intensity at about 5 in the capital, against about 7 around the epicenter.
That distinction matters for anyone drawing conclusions from the videos of swaying towers and sloshing rooftop pools. The buildings performed as designed, but they were not tested anywhere near their limits.
Why Did Panama City’s Towers Hold Up?
Three factors stand out in the engineering commentary published this week.
Distance. The epicenter was more than 190 kilometers from the capital, and the energy that reached the city was heavily attenuated.
Rock foundations. Ramírez has noted that Panama City’s tallest buildings are anchored on rock rather than residual soils, and that the rock beneath Paitilla has an unusually high bearing capacity compared with what engineers find in Costa Rica or Colombia.
A structural code that has been updated repeatedly. Panama’s structural design rules, known as the Reglamento para el Diseño Estructural Panameño (REP), have been updated four times since the first legally binding version in 1985:
| Version | What changed |
|---|---|
| 1976 code | Published by the Panamanian Society of Engineers and Architects, with no force of law |
| REP-84 | First legal regulation, published in the Gaceta Oficial on January 23, 1985. No formal seismic design required for single-family homes |
| REP-94 | Stricter rules for houses and seismic coefficients based on local earthquake data instead of California factors |
| REP-2004 | New buildings over 15 floors or 5,000 m² must carry seismic sensors feeding UTP’s monitoring program |
| REP-2014 | Incorporated studies of the Limón and Pedro Miguel faults carried out during the Canal expansion |
| REP-2021 | Current code. Adopted by the Junta Técnica de Ingeniería y Arquitectura (JTIA) through Resolution 020-2022, in force since April 30, 2023 |
What Is the Pedro Miguel Fault, and Why Do Engineers Keep Mentioning It?
The Pedro Miguel fault runs north to south near the Panama Canal for at least 40 kilometers, and Vargas places it less than 20 kilometers from Panama City. Paleoseismic studies link it to the earthquake of May 2, 1621, which badly damaged the original city at what is now Panamá Viejo.
According to Ramírez, structural design in the capital is governed by the probability that this fault activates. Any building within roughly 10 to 15 kilometers of the fault must be designed to incorporate its effects.
Vargas was direct about the difference: had the October 9 quake originated on Pedro Miguel, he said, the response of the city’s buildings would have been completely different. Solís reached the same conclusion, writing in La Prensa that it is this fault, not the Azuero fault, that will eventually test the country’s full technical capacity.
There is also an early-warning limitation. Panama joined Google’s Android Earthquake Alerts System this week, but Vargas has explained that these systems need roughly 20 kilometers of distance to deliver a useful warning. A rupture on Pedro Miguel would trigger alerts in places like Tocumen or La Chorrera, but likely not in time for the city center.
Which Buildings Are Most Vulnerable?
The engineers interviewed this month point to the same weak spots:
- Buildings from the mid-1980s or earlier. Ramírez has said these are, in general terms, very vulnerable, and that this includes not only small structures but buildings of up to 10 floors, of which Panama has a large stock.
- Homes built without technical supervision. Vargas has warned that a large share of the population lives in houses built without professional oversight or with risky modifications.
- Construction on slopes, riverbanks, flood zones and filled mangroves. Solís cites past landslides in San Miguelito as an example.
- Poorly maintained structures. After the quake, MIVIOT inspected two older apartment blocks in Santa Ana, home to about 160 people, and preliminarily attributed problems to corrosion, deterioration and lack of maintenance.
Solís also points to a structural gap in the system itself: Panama has a structural design regulation but no construction code, meaning there is no single law setting out who inspects each project, at which stages, and with what consequences.
What Should You Check Before Buying a Condo in Panama City?
None of this means Panama City’s modern towers are unsafe. It means the age of the building, the quality of its engineering and its maintenance history deserve the same attention as the view. Based on the issues engineers raised this month, these are reasonable questions for any buyer:
- When was the building permit issued? That tells you which version of the REP the structure was designed under. Pre-1985 buildings were designed before the first binding seismic regulation.
- Who designed and supervised it? Solís recommends working only with architects and civil engineers whose professional license (idoneidad) is recognized by the JTIA.
- Does it have seismic instrumentation? Under REP-2004 and later, new buildings over 15 floors or 5,000 m² should have sensors installed.
- Has the building administration commissioned a post-quake inspection? Ask the property’s administrator (the propiedad horizontal board) for any engineering report issued after October 9, especially for older buildings.
- What does the maintenance record look like? Corrosion, leaks and deferred repairs were the issues MIVIOT flagged in Santa Ana. A well-funded reserve and documented maintenance are good signs.
- Does your insurance cover earthquakes? Review both the building’s master policy and your own contents and unit policy.
For houses outside the capital, Vargas recommends a soil study even for single-family homes. His reasoning is simple: the study costs far less than repairing a structure later.
What Happens Next?
UTP engineers have called for a review of the REP, last updated in 2021, and the university will prepare a formal report with recommended changes based on what the October 9 quake revealed. Ramírez says Panama will become an international case study, because codes derived from U.S. standards have rarely been verified against an earthquake this strong and this close to a skyline of this kind. Several foreign research centers have already expressed interest.
Officials initially reported no deaths. By October 15, Ramírez referred to a preliminary report of one fatality, an exceptionally low toll for a shallow quake of this size. The damage was concentrated in rural Herrera, Los Santos, Veraguas and Coclé, where MIVIOT’s preliminary count shows about 2,557 homes affected, 1,127 of them with major damage. The Cabinet has approved a waiver of permit fees for repair work, and the government has set up two trust funds to finance aid and reconstruction.
If you own or are considering a property in Panama City, in towers along Punta Pacifica and Paitilla, or anywhere on the Azuero Peninsula, Casa Solution can help you ask the right questions about a specific building’s age, engineering and condition before you commit.
This article is general information and does not replace an inspection by a licensed structural engineer.
