Panama Hit by Earthquake

The small country in the Central America, Panama has been hit by a earthquake on Saturday. According to reports, It was about 1.50 a.m in the Panama in the middle of the night when the natural disaster struck the country. The magnitude of the earthquake has been recorded as 6.0. The depth of the earthquake has been measured as 431 kilometers or 26.8 miles.

The US geological survey has till now not reported any news of casualty, death or damage as an affect of the natural disaster. The location of the earthquake has been identified as 97 kilometers or 60 miles northwest of the capital Panama city. Unlike the old methods used for measuring earthquake, the US Seismologists are using the open ended moment Magnitude scale which actually measures the ruptured area of the fault besides the total energy released during the tremor.

But unlike other countries in America, Panama including the central American countries, are prone to earthquakes. This year itself Panama has witnessed a earthquake in March which was stronger than this one measuring about 6.2 in magnitude. At that time since the epicenter was within the Pacific Ocean, fear about a possible Tsunami came in. But this time it was not that a major one and besides a rattling and banging of the house doors, no major casualties took place.

This year since the quake was near the Panama capital city it caught hold much attention since its been long that the City has been hit by one. According to historical information, the capital city faced earthquake long back, once in 1640 and another in 1882.