Powerful quake hits Panama, damages homes; canal operations normal

A 7.7 magnitude earthquake struck near the southern coast of Panama on Friday at a 12.6-km (7.8 miles) depth, according to the US Geological Survey, damaging some buildings but without affecting the critical Panama Canal trade waterway. In Panama, where earthquakes of this magnitude are rare, television images showed elderly residents reduced to tears in the streets as a series of weaker aftershocks rattled the country. “We’re scared. It’s just the two of us old folks here. The house has cracked, and we’re afraid it could fall on us,” said Ricardo Brown, 74, speaking by phone from the Las…