I wasn’t Shaking in My Boots
May 1st, 2006 by Don Ray
But I was shaking in my bed a little after 4:00 AM this morning. This may be the first earthquake this year in this area. If there were others, I slept through them. This one was 5.2 in strength.
I just re-looked at the map and see that there were two last night. The first was at 2:48 AM and listed as 5.5. I slept through that one
Loved the pictures and videos. By the way, the earthquake you experienced has been upgraded to a 6.0 according to the earthquake site I subscribe to. We didn’t feel a thing here in Panama City. Bob
Thanks for the comment. Glad you enjoyed the photos and that you confirmed that you were able to download the videos.
Yes, it appears that they have changed the magnitude of both quakes on the site I referenced in the post. They changed the strength of the first to 5.9 and the second to 5.5. That is the reason I like to post the URL for the official magnitude. Many times they change a few hours later.
I am glad you are OK! We didn’t feel a thing here…Have a wonderful week
You mean you weren’t shaking in your bed? Hmmmm.
I am in Boquete. We have had 14 earthquakes in 7 days. 5 have been big enough to be scary - including the first one (6.0). Some have been mild aftershocks. But I’m starting to get very jumpy. The earthquake URLs aren’t reporting any past May 2, so perhaps they are local. Could the magma under Volcan Baru be moving?
That is interesting. I have only felt one in the last two weeks. It makes me wonder if they are too small to report, but because they are close in origin to Boquete, they are strong in that area. The seismic sites allow you to report earthquakes. People, living in Boquete, should be reporting them.
Hi
I am a resident from Boquete living in Holland and I have been looking for real information on why it has been trembling so much in Boquete since last thursday .. do you have any other information?
I have been checking the american site USGS but besides the 2 big ones on may 1st and 2nd there is no other information.
Thanks ahead of time in case you do have some information and will like to share it.
Greetings
Merette
I don’t know. This has been the most repetitive tremors that I can remember in the last three years that I have been here. You may have read this article, but it is the most information I have seen.
http://www.panama-guide.com/article.php/2006050713401875
There is now information about the frequent tremors in Boquete. Go to http://boquete.org
They are localized, and they might be related to Volcan Baru.
I looked at the site you mentioned, but I must have missed the current information. All I found was the URLs for the USGS seismic sites. I really don’t think there is anything to worry about. There are always tremors this time of year. While there have been more recently, I think they have been minor in strength. This is actually good, because the small ones prevent having a big one.
this night (1am )I was already counting 25 shakes. It almoust goes by the minute. Some are really scary and glasses are falling from the table.
70 shocks were counted on may 4th http://www.panama-guide.com/article.php/20060504200112706
and a similar but less intense series of shocks happened in the 70ies
http://www.panama-guide.com/index.php?topic=earthquakes
One can hear the shocks coming because houses in the neighbourhood start humming before the shock hits at my own place.
It must be really very local because sometimes the “humming” passes by and goes another way without hitting my place.
What part of Boquete are you living in? I certainly haven’t felt any thing like you have described here in David.
Hi Don,
I live in Valle escondido. It’s getting scary here, especially because I feel many more shakings than officially are reported. It´s always like a truck is hitting my home.
The measuring grid of el Instituto de Geociencias doesn´t seem to be dense enough to get them all.
http://www.igc.up.ac.pa/noticias/default.php?subaction=showfull&id=1147581519&archive=
Interesting. I wonder if it is more intense in Valle Escondido than other areas of Boquete. I guess it could make you miss a few putts on the golf course.
I notice that the Institute of Geosciences’ website is down a fair amount of the time. I guess they are getting too many visitors and can’t keep up with the traffic.
I need to drive up to Boquete one of these days. I would like to have tome to see if I could stop at the Institute.
It’s sad but true. It seems that every single authority who has big stakes in Boquete (yes, even the president Martin Torrijos have a project on the area) is saying the Boquete citizen are overreacting to the tremors. But the older inhabitants of Boquete can’t remember the amount, or strenght of this tremors on any date before, despite the passionate interviews given by the authorities on the subject. Want an independent verification on the facts? Just head to Alto Quiel, and ask the people… ask them if they had felt (and hear)something like that before… and another question… what ever happened with the results on the water samples taken in Bajo Mono, on the same source the people reported sulphur-smelling ? and another yet little fact: remember the Caldera Warm waters pits? who is it no one has yet monitored their temperature to find out if there’s an increase? Caldera waters pits has been warm for the past 600 hundreds of years (at least)… can you guess the source?
It’s sad but true. It seems that every single authority who has big stakes in Boquete (yes, even the president Martin Torrijos have a project on the area) is saying the Boquete citizen are overreacting to the tremors. But the older inhabitants of Boquete can’t remember the amount, or strenght of this tremors on any date before, despite the passionate interviews given by the authorities on the subject. Want an independent verification on the facts? Just head to Alto Quiel, and ask the people… ask them if they had felt (and hear)something like that before… and another question… what ever happened with the results on the water samples taken in Bajo Mono, on the same source the people reported sulphur-smelling ? and another yet little fact: remember the Caldera Warm waters pits? who is it no one has yet monitored their temperature to find out if there’s an increase? Caldera waters pits has been warm for the past 600 hundreds of years (at least)… can you guess the source?
First, is it Richard Daniels or Brent Richards? I tried to send an email to both addresses. One of my emails was returned saying the account was not open and the other was not replied to. I really don’t like to post comments from people that think they should not use their real name. It makes me think they have something to hide.
If I read your comment correctly, you seem to be implying that there is a covert cover-up related to the current seismic events. The implication seems to be one like the Mayor that did not want to publish the fact that a shark had been found for fear that it would it would effect tourism in the Movie Jaws.
It appears to me that the Institute of Geosciences is consistently publishing all tremors and it would be imprudent of them to falsify their findings since they are a part of a network of agencies that track seismic activity all over the world.
If you have some non-speculative information, then a follow-up comment would help.
I recently bought land in Alto Boquete and was in Boquete for 12 days at a friend’s house. We were all seated around the dining room table at her house on a street behind the pool hall in Alto Boquete when we felt the first tremor. It was followed by another hit and then another. I could feel it coming up thru the tile floor. Nothing moved very much, but the casement windows began fluttering each time it was ready to strike.
We learned the following day that at least three schools in the area were closed, due to fractured walls.
Perhaps it is due to so much building going on recently. The “gods are angry and Volcan Baru is spewing her venom.”
Yes, you have to be careful about angering the gods of the Baru.