M7.7 earthquake 52 km SW of La Arena, Herrera Province, Panama

A magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck 52 km SW of La Arena, Herrera Province, Panama at 12:56 local time (17:56 UTC) on 9 Oct 2026, at a depth of 10 km, according to USGS and JMA.

Reported by 2 agencies · revised from M8.0 · 2012 reports to USGS “Did You Feel It?”

Data: USGS, JMA · updated 2026-11-02 09:48 UTC · reviewed

Magnitude: 7.7major
moment magnitude (W phase) (mww)
revised from 8.0
Depth: 10 km
Status: Reviewed
Origin time: 2026-10-09 17:56:05 UTC; Local: 9 Oct 2026, 12:56:05 (America/Panama)
Epicentre: 7.607° N, 80.757° W

Circles show this event and others within 300 km from 7 days before to 30 days after. Lines: plate boundaries and GEM active faults. Open on the live map

Nearby places

Distance and estimated shaking at nearby places
Place	Distance	Est. shaking
La ArenaHerrera Province, Panama · pop. 7,175	52 km	VIIVery strong
Los SantosLos Santos Province, Panama · pop. 5,970	52 km	VIIVery strong
Santiago de VeraguasVeraguas Province, Panama · pop. 45,355	60 km	VIIVery strong
Panama CityPanamá, Panama · pop. 408,168	205 km	VIStrong
San MiguelitoPanamá, Panama · pop. 321,501	214 km	VIStrong

Shaking is an estimate from the intensity prediction equation of Allen, Wald & Worden (2012), not an observation. Local ground and buildings can change it by a level or more. Likely felt out to about 2347 km.

Every agency's solution

Agencies locate earthquakes with their own stations and methods, so their numbers differ. We match reports of the same event by time, distance and magnitude and show them side by side. The headline uses USGS, which has been reviewed by an analyst.

Agency	Magnitude	Depth	Epicentre	Time offset	Status
USGSheadlineUSGS NEIC via U.S. Geological Survey	7.7 mwwwas 7.6	10 km	7.61° N, 80.76° W	–	Reviewed · 3 revisions
JMAJMA via Japan Meteorological Agency	7.6 Mjwas 8.0	0 km	7.50° N, 80.80° W	−5.5 s	Automatic · 1 revision

How big was it?

Can cause serious damage over large areas. Roughly 15 such earthquakes occur worldwide each year.

It released roughly the energy of 5.4 Mt of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step means about 32 times more energy and 10 times larger waves on a seismogram. Depth matters too: at 10 km this was a shallow earthquake, which is felt more strongly at the surface than a deeper one of the same size.

Compare M7.7 with M6.7

M7.7 releases about 32× the energy of M6.7, and its waves are about 10× taller on a seismogram. Energy: 5.4 Mt of TNT vs 169 kt of TNT.

Each square is the energy of one M6.7. Energy from log₁₀E = 1.5M + 4.8.

Aftershocks and nearby activity

164 later earthquakes within 300 km; the largest was M7.6 34 days ago. Aftershock rates usually fall off roughly in proportion to 1/time.

Aftershocks

Mainshock M7.7

164 later earthquakes nearby. Aftershock rates typically fall off roughly as 1/time (Omori's law).

Aftershocks
Time after mainshock (hours)	Magnitude	Depth (km)
0.00	7.6	10
0.10	5.2	10
0.11	5.4	10
0.17	5.1	10
0.20	4.8	10
0.22	4.8	10
0.22	4.6	10
0.28	4.6	10
0.28	4.7	10
0.31	4.5	10
0.35	5.1	10
0.36	4.8	10
0.38	4.9	10
0.40	4.6	10
0.42	4.7	10
0.44	5.5	10
0.51	4.6	10
0.58	4.7	10
0.62	4.5	10
0.68	4.5	10
0.69	5.0	10
0.69	5.8	10
0.77	5.0	10
0.85	4.9	10
0.90	4.9	10
0.95	4.2	10
1.04	4.3	10
1.10	4.2	10
1.11	4.5	10
1.15	5.0	10
1.23	4.3	10
1.25	4.6	10
1.32	4.7	10
1.35	4.9	10
1.39	4.6	10
1.44	4.6	10
1.48	4.5	10
1.53	4.6	10
1.60	4.7	10
1.62	4.8	10
1.67	4.5	10
1.76	4.4	10
1.78	4.5	10
1.83	4.8	10
1.88	5.2	10
2.10	4.6	10
2.12	4.5	10
2.40	5.0	10
2.43	5.0	10
2.49	6.6	10
2.53	5.6	10
2.66	5.1	10
2.75	4.9	10
2.77	5.0	10
2.98	4.9	10
3.16	4.9	10
3.76	4.5	10
3.86	4.6	10
3.94	4.5	10
4.52	4.3	10
4.67	4.6	10
4.71	4.4	10
5.23	5.1	10
5.28	5.4	10
5.45	5.0	10
5.64	4.3	10
5.97	4.5	10
6.03	4.7	10
6.12	4.8	10
6.65	4.2	10
6.82	4.1	10
6.93	4.6	10
7.26	4.7	10
7.66	4.5	10
7.79	4.3	10
8.40	4.4	10
8.51	5.0	10
8.79	4.5	10
9.31	4.1	10
9.52	4.4	10
9.61	4.4	10
10.00	4.5	10
10.28	4.5	10
10.30	6.0	10
10.62	4.5	10
11.42	4.4	10
12.14	4.3	10
12.34	4.5	10
12.38	4.9	10
12.52	4.7	10
12.57	4.9	10
12.86	4.5	10
13.29	4.6	10
13.47	4.4	10
15.87	4.3	10
16.65	4.8	10
16.71	4.5	10
17.55	4.5	10
18.63	4.4	10
19.44	4.5	10
19.85	4.8	10
20.93	4.4	10
21.06	4.5	10
22.01	4.3	10
22.04	4.8	10
22.16	4.7	19
27.93	4.3	10
30.17	4.6	10
31.91	4.9	10
32.26	4.4	10
32.42	4.3	10
33.37	4.4	10
33.59	4.3	10
38.30	4.5	10
47.26	4.8	10
48.56	4.4	10
51.39	4.7	10
52.49	4.4	10
52.74	4.6	10
56.44	4.5	10
58.32	4.2	10
61.33	4.5	10
65.19	4.3	10
67.35	4.5	10
74.16	4.8	10
75.79	4.5	10
75.88	4.5	10
77.41	6.1	11
77.53	5.0	10
77.68	4.9	10
77.82	4.5	10
78.10	4.6	10
79.12	4.4	10
80.87	4.7	10
82.32	4.3	10
83.30	4.6	10
83.54	4.4	10
84.72	4.6	10
90.92	4.5	10
105.08	4.4	10
107.06	4.2	10
107.22	4.7	10
139.59	4.5	10
141.92	4.7	10
151.91	4.4	10
155.44	4.4	10
172.75	4.6	10
190.47	4.2	10
203.07	4.4	10
204.33	4.1	10
214.28	4.5	10
263.16	5.4	10
263.38	4.5	10
268.93	4.5	10
280.97	4.5	10
297.47	4.0	10
303.34	4.4	10
305.71	4.4	10
319.40	4.0	10
429.50	5.0	10
475.78	4.7	10
525.90	5.2	10
673.18	4.4	10
694.10	4.5	10

Did you feel it?

Reports from people help show where shaking was strong. They are anonymous and shown here in aggregate.

Reports close 14 days after an earthquake.

Reports on SeismoAtlas

No reports yet.

USGS “Did You Feel It?” has 2012 reports: add yours at USGS.

Event id pt26282000. First recorded here 9 Oct 2026, 18:03:04 UTC. Solutions: USGS (usgs:us6000u18k); JMA (jma:20261010025608). Cite as: SeismoAtlas, “M7.7 earthquake 52 km SW of La Arena, Herrera Province, Panama”, https://seismoatlas.com/earthquake/pt26282000-m7-7-earthquake-52-km-sw-of-la-arena-herrera-province-panama, data from USGS, JMA.

JSON: /api/v1/events/pt26282000. SeismoAtlas is not an official warning service.