There is no water or electricity for more than 24 hours in Tonosí, the town closest to the epicenter of the 7.7 magnitude earthquake that occurred on Friday in Panama, which continues under constant aftershocks, exasperating the neighbors, many of them now homeless.
What there is in one of the parks is an improvised pot cooking over low heat in the hands of three women, health center staff, who have been serving the three meals – breakfast, lunch and dinner – throughout this Saturday to the victims of the small town.
The locals of Tonosí line up for Argelis Ortega to give them something to eat in a disposable container. Some have lost their homes and many have fear inside their bodies.
“There have been quite a few. Breakfast, lunch and dinner for more than a hundred people,” Ortega tells EFE while seasoning the pork with attitude.
The park of that town far from the Pan-American highway, the main one that crosses Panama, has become a camp, dining room and improvised hospital at the same time since at 12:56 local time on Friday a magnitude 7.7 earthquake – according to data from the United States Geological Survey (USGS) – occurred near Tonosí, the town closest to the epicenter.
The Institute of Geosciences of the University of Panama lowered the magnitude to 7.5.
The food was donated by neighbors while local authorities distributed water and the patients locate themselves as best they can under a couple of old tarps with signs of anxiety or bruises from falls at the time of the earthquake.
The main routes toto get to that small town in the south of Panama are damaged: A landslide has cut one of them and in the other there are cracks, fallen trees and stones, so the Executive has come by helicopter to assess the damage.
Without stopping shaking
While the medical staff starts the intravenous lines and Ortega stirs the cauldron, the earth does not stop shaking under his feet with the more than a hundred aftershocks recorded since Friday’s earthquake.
The neighbors are on plastic chairs although the little ones sleep on mattresses. That is the case of Cristal Reyes, a native of Tonosí, who He stands in a circle with his family in the middle of the park trying to calm his children.
“I didn’t even dare to go home. (My husband) sent me a video and it’s all on the floor,” she spoke to EFE when another reply forced the interview to stop.
Reyes works near that park and the medical center. When it began to shake, she ran away but the magnitude was so great that it knocked her down along with her other companions.
The discomfort and nervousness add to the constant aftershocks reported throughout this Saturday while they wait for the restoration of basic services.
Panamanian authorities have not yet given a figure for material losses due to the earthquake, but they have already declared a state of national emergency to channel up to 100 million dollars to address the situation.
According to the most recent official report, the seismic event left 27 people injured, none of them seriously, and affected to varying degrees 426 homes inhabited by 2,130 people, 419 schools, as well as some roads in the interior.
The most affected area is the one known as the Azuero peninsula, where Tonosí belongs, an arid region near the Pacific characterized by small towns with a colonial style, an aging population and an economy dependent on the primary sector.
EFE was able to verify that the central squares of the towns have structural damage to their historic buildings, areas are cordoned off and residents are waiting for the humanitarian aid that is being distributed.