President José Raúl Mulino visited temporary shelters in El Carrizal, in the district of Soná, Veraguas province, on Sunday, October 18, where he personally pledged to rebuild the homes of families displaced by the magnitude 7.5 earthquake that struck Panama on October 9. The president was accompanied on his tour by First Lady Maricel Cohen de Mulino.
What Happened
The presidential visit took the country’s leader directly to the shelters housing families who lost their homes in the powerful earthquake nine days earlier. El Carrizal, a community in the district of Soná in Veraguas province, has been serving as a refuge for residents forced from their houses by the seismic event.
During his walk through the shelters, Mulino spoke with affected families and made a commitment that the government would rebuild their homes. The First Lady, Maricel Cohen de Mulino, joined him on the tour, underscoring the administration’s focus on the humanitarian dimensions of the disaster response.
The earthquake the president addressed during his visit registered a magnitude of 7.5, making it one of the strongest seismic events recorded in Panama in recent memory. The visit itself signals that recovery efforts have moved beyond the initial emergency phase and into the longer process of reconstruction.
Background
Panama sits in a seismically active region of Central America, where the interaction of tectonic plates along the Caribbean and Pacific coasts regularly produces earthquakes. Veraguas province, located on the country’s Pacific side, includes communities such as Soná that are vulnerable to the effects of strong tremors, particularly older or more modestly constructed rural housing.
When earthquakes of this magnitude occur, the immediate government response typically involves establishing temporary shelters for displaced families while authorities assess damage to housing and infrastructure. El Carrizal has served that function for residents of the Soná district following the October 9 quake.
For President Mulino, the visit represents a hands-on approach to disaster response. Traveling to the affected zone with the First Lady put the presidential couple face to face with the displaced families, a gesture that carries political weight in rural provinces like Veraguas, where direct contact with national leaders is less frequent than in the capital.
What This Means for Panama
The president’s pledge to rebuild homes shifts the government’s role from emergency shelter provision to permanent reconstruction, a far more demanding commitment in terms of budget, planning, and time. Rebuilding after a magnitude 7.5 earthquake involves not just replacing structures but ensuring new construction can withstand future seismic events in a region where strong earthquakes are a known risk.
For the displaced families in El Carrizal and the wider Soná district, the promise offers a timeline for returning to normal life, though the pace of reconstruction will depend on how quickly the government can mobilize resources and coordinate building efforts in Veraguas.
The visit also demonstrates the political importance the Mulino administration places on the earthquake response. With affected communities still living in shelters, the president’s presence in Soná signals that the government intends to be judged by its recovery record, not only its immediate emergency actions.
What to watch next: how quickly reconstruction begins in El Carrizal and surrounding communities, which government agencies will lead the rebuilding effort, and whether the timeline for delivering new homes to displaced families in Veraguas becomes public in the weeks ahead.
This story was originally reported by Telemetro.