STORY: Families displaced by Panama's 7.7-magnitude earthquake sheltered in tents outside their crumbled homes and a beach hotel laid in ruins on Sunday (October 11), as the government declared a national state of emergency following the Friday (October 9) quake that damaged hundreds of homes across the country's central provinces.

Drone footage showed a collapsed hotel at Playa Venao, while in Tonosi, displaced resident Yineidys DeGracias returned to her severely damaged home to find debris filling the bedroom where she had been sleeping with her 20-day-old baby when the shaking began, saying she shielded the infant as falling blocks struck her head and body before fleeing the building.

Panama has recorded more than 200 aftershocks following Friday's earthquake, prompting the government to declare a national state of emergency over the weekend.

No deaths have been reported, but at least 27 people were injured and nearly 900 homes have been damaged, according to emergency authorities, though the figure could rise as assessments continue in remote communities.

President Jose Raul Mulino visited affected areas to deliver aid and called for urgent repairs to roads and bridges to facilitate relief efforts. At least 14 bridges were damaged in the provinces of Veraguas and Los Santos.

DESCRIPCIÓN DE IMÁGENES

SHOWS: PLAYA VENAO, PANAMA (OCTOBER 11, 2026) (REUTERS – Access all)

1. (MUTE) VARIOUS OF DRONE FOOTAGE OF COLLAPSED HOTEL

2. VARIOUS OF COLLAPSED STAIRS OF BEACH HOTEL

TONOSI, PANAMA (OCTOBER 11, 2026) (REUTERS – Access all)

3. DISPLACED RESIDENT YINEIDYS DEGRACIAS ARRIVING AT HER HOME, SEVERELY DAMAGED BY THE EARTHQUAKE

4. DEGRACIAS WALKING THROUGH HER HOME AND ENTERING THE BEDROOM WHERE SHE WAS SLEEPING WITH HER 20-DAY-OLD BABY WHEN SHAKING BEGAN

5. BABY’S CRIB FULL OF DEBRIS

6. DEGRACIAS’ ELDEST DAUGHTER IN THE LIVING ROOM / EXTENSIVE DAMAGE TO THE HOUSE

7. (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) DISPLACED RESIDENT, YINEIDYS DEGRACIAS, SAYING:

“Very, very bad, so much fear. I was in the room, asleep, with my baby. I was asleep. It was like a dream, like I was dreaming that it was shaking, and when I woke up, it was real. I grabbed the baby, and I don’t know how I grabbed him, and I put him in here. When I was going out to the porch, the blocks from the little pillars of the porch started falling and hit me on the head, here on the thigh.”

8. DEGRACIAS SITTING WITH HER BABY IN TENT SHE SET UP IN THE FRONT YARD OF HER HOME TO SLEEP IN

9. BRUISES AND SCRATCHES ON DEGRACIAS’ LEG, CAUSED BY DEBRIS THAT HIT HER WHEN SHE FLED THE HOUSE

10. DEGRACIAS TALKING WITH FAMILY MEMBERS IN THE YARD OF HER HOME

11. (SOUNDBITE (Spanish) DISPLACED RESIDENT, YINEIDYS DEGRACIAS, SAYING:

“It was very big, but thank God we’re all right and my baby was not hurt. I saw that load of blocks falling and I thought about the baby and I put him in here. And I fell, and I said, well, let whatever falls on me fall. And everything fell on me, and I didn’t feel it at the time, I didn’t feel anything because I was falling, this whole load of stuff on my head, my body, my back. I only felt the grandfather of the baby pulling me (to get her out of the house), but I didn’t let go, I didn’t let go of him in my arms.”

12. DEGRACIAS LEAVING HER BABY ASLEEP INSIDE THE TENT AND GETTING UP

13. DESTROYED KITCHEN OF HOME

14. DEGRACIAS AND FAMILY MEMBERS LOOKING AT DAMAGE TO HOUSE

15. (SOUNDBITE (Spanish) DISPLACED RESIDENT, YINEIDYS DEGRACIAS, SAYING:

“We still have to wait and see what help they’re going to give us with the house, what we’re going to do. But in the meantime we’re not going to stay here (in the yard) because we can’t get over there, and with the baby even less. Imagine how that house is, it’s still about to fall down.”

16. LIVING ROOM WITH COLLAPSED WALL

17. ARMCHAIR COVERED IN DEBRIS

PLAYA VENAO, PANAMA (OCTOBER 11, 2026) (REUTERS – Access all)

18. THATCHED-ROOF PALAPA OF COLLAPSED BEACH RESTAURANT

19. BEACH RESTAURANT CORDONED OFF

20. BEACH RESTAURANT DAMAGED BY EARTHQUAKE

CHITRE, PANAMA (OCTOBER 11, 2026) (PANAMA GOVERNMENT TV – Access all)

21. (MUTE) VARIOUS OF PRESIDENT JOSE RAUL MULINO VISITING INJURED PEOPLE AT HOSPITAL DAMAGED BY EARTHQUAKE

22. (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) PANAMANIAN PRESIDENT, JOSE RAUL MULINO, SAYING:

“Yesterday they began to resolve the problem with the roads, which were not blocked, they were broken, they couldn’t pass. Food and everything go by road on a large scale. Yesterday helicopters from SENAN (National Aeronaval Service) were in Tonosi yesterday, and they were flying in a lot of water, dry food, etcetera, for the people of the town of Tonosi who were in a field with all their tents. But the good thing, among everything that has happened, is that there are no victims, the Panamanian people are calm, the material losses we will resolve, but the important thing is that there are no victims, and that is a miracle.”

23. (MUTE) VARIOUS OF MULINO WALKING THROUGH TENTS WHERE INJURED ARE BEING TREATED WHILE HOSPITAL IS BEING REPAIRED