USGS event us6000u18k registers M7.6 strike-slip rupture offshore Panama

The USGS National Earthquake Information Center posted the moment tensor and PAGER exposure data for us6000u18k within 18 minutes of origin time. Preliminary relocation places the hypocenter at 7.2°N 82.1°W with 12 km depth and a W-phase magnitude of 7.6. Teleseismic body-wave inversion indicates bilateral propagation along a steeply dipping plane consistent with the Panama Fracture Zone.

Instrumental intensity reports from the USGS Did You Feel It? system logged 14,000 responses within four hours, with MMI VI–VII extending 180 km from the epicenter. Peak ground acceleration at the nearest strong-motion station reached 0.38 g. Tsunami warning centers issued and then canceled alerts after coastal tide gauges recorded maximum amplitudes below 0.3 m.

No aftershock sequence above M5.5 had been recorded by 36 hours post-mainshock, below the median rate observed in the USGS ComCat catalog for M7.5–7.7 events in subduction-transform settings. The absence of reported fatalities aligns with the low population density within the MMI VII contour and the predominance of low-rise engineered structures.

Operational impact centers on maritime traffic through the Panama Canal approach channels and on the undersea fiber-optic segments that cross the fracture zone; latency and packet-loss metrics from regional IXPs will provide the first quantitative data on cable integrity.