Panama declares yellow alert for rain in earthquake zone
Soná, Mariato and Tonosí are on watch for possible river flooding, nearly two weeks after the earthquake that left thousands affected.
Panama raised the alert to yellow for rain in three districts where the Oct. 9 earthquake left homes damaged. The National Civil Protection System (Sinaproc) declared it effective 9 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 20, in Soná and Mariato, in Veraguas province, and in Tonosí, in Los Santos, all on the Azuero Peninsula in the southwest of the country.
The decision rests on a forecast from Panama's Meteorology and Hydrology Institute (Imhpa): heavy rain, with rapid rises in rivers and streams and flooding in vulnerable areas. The notice does not say how many millimeters of rain are expected.
A yellow alert means watch and prepare, not evacuate. Sinaproc asks people not to cross rivers, streams or flooded streets, to stay away from riverbanks, to identify exit routes and to keep an emergency bag ready. Bocas del Toro, Chiriquí, Colón and Coclé provinces, the Ngäbe-Buglé comarca and other parts of Veraguas remain on green alert.
The risk weighs more because of what the quake left behind. Its magnitude was 7.7, with the epicenter in Azuero. More than 13,000 people were affected and more than 2,000 remain in 55 shelters, according to EFE's tally. Nearly a thousand aftershocks, some of magnitude 6, have shaken the same area since.
With damaged homes and occupied shelters, a flood would hit people who have already lost their housing. Panama's government declared a state of emergency Oct. 10, and Sinaproc had already issued a rain prevention notice that ran through Oct. 21.
