Massive 7.7 Earthquake Topples Buildings in Panama

Massive 7.7 earthquake topples buildings in Panama

STACY LIBERATORE

A massive magnitude 7.7 earthquake has rocked Panama, damaging buildings and triggering an urgent tsunami threat message.

The earthquake struck southwest of Pitaloza Arriba, a village of just over 100 residents in Herrera province, with shaking reported hundreds of miles away. The US Geological Survey said the earthquake struck at 1.56pm ET at a shallow depth and that some casualties were possible. 

Reports of collapsed buildings, split roads and caved-in roofs emerged after the quake, with authorities saying damage was concentrated in central Panama.

Locals have reported people trapped in rubble, with one instance of a hotel fall on top of a car with people inside.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center initially warned that hazardous waves were possible along parts of the coasts of nine countries: Panama, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Peru, Nicaragua, Guatemala, El Salvador and Mexico.

However, the center confirmed about three hours after the earthquake that the tsunami threat had passed. Its initial message had urged people in threatened coastal areas to stay alert and follow instructions from national and local authorities.

Strong shaking forced people to evacuate buildings in Panama City, about 122 miles from the epicenter.

The US Embassy in Panama is monitoring the aftermath of the earthquake, saying on X it was 'assessing potential damage' from the major earthquake.

Panama's President José Raúl Mulino is calling for calm in the Central American country, saying on X: 'One should not use the event to create alarm and disorder,' Mulino said in a statement posted to his official X account.

Footage from the San Miguelito Metro station in Panama City captured panic and evacuations moments after the area shook. 

Workers and visitors of a maternity ward at the Santo Tomas Hospital in Panama City also fled the building.

The evacuation forced even week-old babies outside, as residents waited for news about impacts. 

Sabina Rios, who was on the sixth floor of an ‌old US ⁠military-era building in Panama City, told Reuters the shaking was unusually strong and prolonged. 

'The quake felt strong and lasted a long time, the longest I've felt in years,' Rios said. 

Traffic snarled across Panama City as many offices released employees early, unsure of conditions or potential structural damage to buildings, and the Metro halted service.

Students in uniform poured onto the streets of downtown Panama as schools were let out early across the city. Classes were suspended nationwide.

The Panama Canal Authority also reported that the country's waterway is operating normally. 

The quake's ​epicenter was close to the rural ​community of La Pitaloza in a ⁠sparsely populated area of Herrera, near the Pacific coastline. 

Rosendo Domínguez, 60, who is from Herrera province, told The Associated Press: 'We felt it very strongly. It knocked things over in the kitchen, but we’re OK, though we’re very scared. Everyone is outside, scared.'

Shaking was also felt as far as San Jose, the capital of neighboring Costa Rica, according to a Reuters witness. 

In Penonomé, a city about halfway between the epicenter and Panama ​City, social media videos showed a damaged church and nearby buildings that collapsed.

Several people were reported injured, Omar Smith of the National Civil Protection Service said, including one struck by debris from a structure that partially collapsed in Penonomé. 

The cathedral in the district’s main square and the Dos Continentes hotel also sustained damage, including a partial collapse and cracks, he confirmed. No deaths were immediately reported.

Coclé’s provincial government said the governor’s palace suffered substantial structural damage, but employees were safely evacuated. Officials urged residents to remain calm following the earthquake.

Around 45 minutes later, a magnitude 5.5 earthquake hit in Bajo Corral, which is located 28 miles east of Pitaloza Arriba.

The USGS then recorded a third quake, measuring magnitude 5.8, near El Cacao. The village lies about 18 miles southwest of the first quake's epicenter.  

At least seven more aftershocks have struck since the initial quake. 

A USGS map shows the strongest shaking from the 7.7-magnitude earthquake was reported near the epicenter on the Azuero Peninsula, with powerful tremors around Ocú and Las Tablas. 

Shaking was also reported in Santiago and farther west in David, Boquete and Changuinola. Lighter tremors reached Panama City.

Two powerful earthquakes (7.7, 6.6) and multiple aftershocks rock Panama

Two powerful earthquakes (7.7, 6.6) and multiple aftershocks rock Panama

A second powerful 6.6 magnitude earthquake struck Panama Friday afternoon following a series of aftershocks, the U.S. Geological Survey said. It came after a magnitude 7.7 quake shook the Central American country, collapsing buildings near its epicenter and prompting evacuations.

A powerful magnitude 7.7 earthquake shook Panama on Friday morning, collapsing buildings near its epicenter and prompting evacuations across the country.

The quake, which was felt as far away as neighboring Colombia, was centered about 10 kilometers (6 miles) southwest of the remote community of Pitaloza Arriba, in the central province of Herrera, the U.S. Geological Survey said. It struck at a depth of 10 kilometers (6 miles).

The USGS initially reported the quake as magnitude 8, then revised it to 7.6 and later to 7.7.

Visibly shaken residents of Panama City gathered outside as they waited for news of the quake’s impact on Friday.

“We felt it very strongly. It knocked things over in the kitchen, but we’re okay, though we’re very scared," Rosendo Domínguez, 60, who is from Herrera province, where the earthquake struck, told The Associated Press by phone. “Everyone is outside, scared.”

Multiple aftershocks continued to rattle Panama, including several measuring magnitude 5.8, 5.5 and 5.2. Seismologists at the University of Panama recorded more than 45 aftershocks, though many were too weak to be felt.

Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino called for calm on Friday, writing on X: “What happened should not be used to cause alarm or disorder.”

Omar Smith of the National Civil Protection Service said on the Telemetro Reporta news channel that damage was concentrated in the central provinces of Veraguas, Herrera and Los Santos. He said there were no reports of damage in the capital, which is known for its hundreds of skyscrapers.

Smith said several injuries have been reported, including one person struck by debris from a partially collapsed structure in the city of Penonomé, around 93 miles (150 km) from the capital. He confirmed a partial collapse and cracks at the cathedral in the district’s main square, as well as damage in the governor’s office building and the Dos Continentes hotel. No casualties were immediately reported.

Local news outlets also reported that the Church of San Atanasio, a colonial-style Catholic church in Panama’s Los Santos province, had collapsed. The church was declared a National Historic Heritage Site in 1938. Elsewhere, including in Veraguas province, large fissures ran along roadways.

Tocumen International Airport in Panama City, one of the region's busiest airports with more than 20 million travelers in 2025, said it would temporarily suspend operations and activated evacuation plans. It said operations would resume once security conditions have been checked.

The Panama Canal Authority said operations were continuing normally along the key global trade route. It said its priority was the safety of employees, vessels and crews and that specialized technical teams were inspecting facilities for possible damage.

The last major earthquake to cause widespread damage in Panama struck in 1991. A magnitude 7.4 quake, centered in nearby Costa Rica killed 23 people, injured 559, and left thousands of people homeless in the border Bocas de Toro region.

Alerts were also issued in El Salvador and as far as Chile’s Easter Island, about 3,500 kilometers (2,175 miles) off Chile’s mainland coast. Chile's government placed the island under a precautionary advisory.

The U.S. Embassy in Panama said it was “closely monitoring” the aftermath of the quake and accounting for the welfare of its citizens in Panama, a well-known retirement destination for Americans.

Tremors were felt in Panama City, where buildings shook and people evacuated into the streets. Visibly shaken residents gathered outside as they waited for news of the quake’s impact.

London Calling: A Journey into Our Techno-Totalitarian Future

Jacob Nordangård: Entering the UK is like a dystopian vision of the future

Last weekend, I spoke at a conference in London about the establishment of the global AI-agentic state. The journey there felt like a dystopian vision of the future straight out of a Terry Gilliam movie, revealing just how far advanced this agenda already is. The question is: where will we be in ten years?

I had already had to apply for an entry permit (Electronic Travel Authorisation) and, in the process, submit my biometric data – a procedure that naturally requires the use of a smartphone.

Upon arriving at the airport (Stansted), I first had to take the automated shuttle train to passport control before being herded like cattle toward the new fully automated passport control system. There, I was met by a machine that simultaneously scanned me and my passport before the gates opened – though only on the second attempt, as I happened to scan the wrong page of my passport and needed staff assistance.

After that, I went to the train station, where new ticket barriers awaited me. Here, I had to scan my ticket; the gates then opened, and I could begin the journey into London.

However, as I was leaving the station, I walked right into the ticket barriers because I thought they would open automatically, like in Stockholm. But that wasn’t the case; in London, you have to scan your ticket both when entering and exiting. I again needed help from staff to get out.

I then made my way through a long and complex tunnel system before reaching another set of barriers – this time for the subway. Tickets didn’t work here; instead, everyone tapped the cards they were carrying. There were no ticket inspectors, ticket machines or information points to be found. I was lucky enough to find staff at the accessible gate who took pity on me.

I managed to find a standing spot on a packed and sweltering subway train before arriving at my final destination, King’s Cross, fifteen minutes later. There, I once again got stuck in the “ticket gate Hell” and had to ask for help to get out (explaining that I was a confused Swede who didn’t understand their system).

Thank goodness for real people who are able to help when technology is confusing or fails.

As I walked out, I noticed that the familiar Chase Manhattan Bank logo was printed on the contactless payment mechanism between the turnstiles.

That is to say, the “Rockefeller bank,” which was led by David Rockefeller for several decades. I later learned that I simply could have tapped my Swedish bank card.

It is clear that their infrastructure is in place; now the “cattle” simply need to be convinced to get physically chipped as well.

Afterwards, I made my way to my hotel near King’s Cross. It was a veritable miniature hotel, where I had to squeeze into a claustrophobic seven square meters. I realised that the three rooms in my corridor could easily have fit inside our undersized living room. A taste of the “compact living” of the future? On top of that, I had to handle the check-in digitally via my phone.

After a night’s sleep, I took a taxi to the conference. For the first time, I used the Uber app, which – in addition to allowing you to track the car’s route to the pickup point – provides advance information about the driver’s identity, ratings and car model. Convenient for the customer, yet simultaneously a tool for surveillance and control.

During the ride, I conversed with the driver, a young Black man with short dreads. After the usual small talk, I revealed that I was an author writing about geopolitics and the exercise of global power. I brought up the situation in Sweden regarding the Wallenberg family’s influence on politics, while he spoke knowingly of the Rothschild family’s dominance in England. Taxi drivers are evidently more alert and aware than the indoctrinated cadre of academics who populate our universities.

I got off at the venue in Islington where the conference was to be held. I later learned that it was one of the few places that still welcomed voices critical of the system.

The event was organised by The Real Left, a group of politically conscious left-wing people who, during the pandemic, reacted to the fact that virtually all left-wing organisations offered absolutely no resistance to lockdowns, mask mandates and mass vaccination – choosing instead to join forces with the pharmaceutical industry -and consequently felt a need to organise.

To the best of my knowledge, there is nothing similar in Sweden, where the alt-right and New Age movements have instead absorbed the bulk of the opposition.

Several very interesting presentations were given during the conference (which brought together a small but knowledgeable audience).

Here, co-organiser Emily Garcia and feminist academic Heather Brunskell-Evansspoke about the superclass’s war on reproduction and how the transgender issue is being used as a battering ram for a dystopian future agenda.

Just before the lunch break, Iain Davis – author of ‘The Technocratic Dark State’ – arrived, and we had a brief chat before it was his turn to take the stage and deliver an appreciated presentation on how we can escape the technocratic “dark state.”

This was followed by a brief but serious address by human rights activist Debbie Hicks, in which she warned that preparations for a new world war are underway. This includes the reintroduction of conscription in the UK for men up to the age of 65!

Then it was my turn. I built upon my presentation, ‘The Digital World Brain and the Rise of the Agentic State’, from the ‘Bevrijding van Bedrog’ conference in the Netherlands on 12 September.

My starting point was Tony Blair’s declaration from the 2005 G8 summit – stating that climate change is the greatest threat to our shared environment – as well as the document ‘Global Warning’, signed by government advisor David Wasdell, which was circulated among the participants before the meeting; it included a call to initiate a long-term reduction of the global population!

After leaving the post as Prime Minister, Tony Blair, tellingly, became an advisor to JPMorgan Chase and still serves as Chairman of the JPMorgan Chase International Council (originally established as the Chase International Advisory Committee by David Rockefeller in 1965). Tony “Liar” Blair now sits on the board of Donald Trump’s Board of Peace.

Since Blair’s declaration, the population agenda has been reflected in the planetary boundaries framework, the pandemic declaration, the Pact for the Future, the construction of the “agentic state” and the threat of a new major war in which AI-led systems will likely be in the driver’s seat.

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Report: US prepares major Iran strike plans

Report: US prepares major Iran strike plans

Israel National News

The Pentagon has drawn up plans for a renewed large-scale military offensive against Iran, including potential strikes on missile installations, drone facilities and energy infrastructure, The New York Times reported Thursday, citing US officials.

The preparations come as the American military moves toward deploying three aircraft carriers to the Middle East, marking one of its largest concentrations of naval forces in the region in years.

According to the report, President Donald Trump has instructed military planners to develop additional options for attacking Iran, despite repeatedly declining to authorize major operations in recent months.

Trump's national security advisers and Pentagon officials have presented him with five proposals for significant military action against Iran or the Iran-backed Houthi movement in Yemen. The president rejected each of them.

Nevertheless, preparations for another possible offensive are underway. Senior national security officials, led by Vice President JD Vance, discussed the latest proposals during a meeting at Camp David last Friday.

The plans envision a concentrated military campaign lasting approximately three days, according to people familiar with the discussions.

Potential targets include Iran's missile and drone stockpiles, much of which the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has rebuilt since the beginning of the war. Iranian energy installations, Revolutionary Guard command centers and military headquarters could also be targeted.

Axios previously reported details of the latest military planning.

The preparations are proceeding alongside diplomatic efforts to resolve the conflict. US officials have endorsed Trump's assessment that negotiations conducted through intermediaries have produced some progress, although fundamental disagreements remain over Iran's nuclear program.

Washington wants an agreement addressing Tehran's nuclear ambitions before resolving other disputes. Iranian negotiators, however, have insisted that nuclear discussions should take place only at the final stage of negotiations.

American officials have also expressed concern that Iran has become a more formidable military opponent as the conflict has continued.

According to the report, improvements in Iranian tactics have forced US forces to expend more interceptors against incoming missiles than earlier in the war, placing additional pressure on American ammunition reserves.

Intelligence assessments also indicate that Iran has improved its ability to target US military bases using satellite imagery supplied by Chinese companies.

Since the last significant exchange of retaliatory strikes in September, Iran has attacked at least 13 vessels, according to a monitoring organization operated by the British Navy. US intelligence assessments place the figure closer to 20, according to people briefed on the findings.

US, European groups issue travel advisories after Houthis attack Riyadh airport

US, European groups issue travel advisories after Houthis attack Riyadh airport

REUTERS, JERUSALEM POST STAFF

The US Embassy in Jordan issued a travel advisory on Friday to Americans in the Middle East in light of current hostilities in the region, specifically pointing to the recent Houthi attack on Saudi Arabia's Riyadh airport.

"Iranian-supported Houthis have engaged in hostilities against Saudi Arabia, including attacks on civilian airports and other critical infrastructure resulting in civilian casualties," the embassy wrote, adding that "the hostilities have the potential to escalate rapidly" and Americans should monitor the situation closely, particularly if they are planning travel to or from the region.

Also on Friday, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency EASA recommended airlines not to operate within additional portions of Saudi airspace after Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis attacked Riyadh airport.

In an updated conflict zone information bulletin for Saudi Arabia airspace, which was initially issued on September 30, the EU regulator said recent attacks had demonstrated the ability and intent of the Houthis to strike targets deeper inside Saudi territory, including the capital.

The situation escalated after Saudi Arabia's General Authority of Civil Aviation said on Friday that three Saudi nationals were killed and several people were wounded following two attacks on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh on Thursday.

In a statement on X/Twitter, the General Authority of Civil Aviation said the first attack targeted airport facilities, while the second struck an aircraft belonging to Saudi state carrier Saudia.

Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis said on Thursday they had attacked the airport with two cruise missiles.

The group also said it had targeted an airport in the southwestern city of Najran, a claim Saudi authorities have not confirmed, and an airbase in Khamis Mushait with ballistic missiles.

The Houthis say they are targeting the kingdom over its support for government forces in Yemen's reignited civil war. Saudi Arabia says it is backing an offensive by Yemen's UN-recognized government to take back territory from the Houthis.