How a Seismically Quiet Corner of Panama Produced a Magnitude 7.7 Strike-Slip Earthquake That Damaged All 10 Provinces
Nature World News | 14.10.2026 10:52
The magnitude 7.7 earthquake that damaged all 10 of Panama's provinces on Oct. 9 struck a part of the country that seismologists describe as unusually quiet, a reminder that faults with few recorded earthquakes can still store enough strain for a major rupture. The U.S. Geological Survey says the quake was caused by left-lateral strike-slip faulting, in which blocks of crust slide past each other horizontally, beneath Panama's Azuero Peninsula.
