A Panama Guide

Not 5 minutes ago, Panama City began to shake once again.  Roughly 48 hours after the last earthquake – another small quake shakes Panama.  This time the shaking was not as pronounce as the last time.

I will update with USGS information once it becomes available.

Updates Information:

USGS information

Magnitude    5.3

Date-Time    Monday, July 06, 2009 at 04:10:38 UTC

Sunday, July 05, 2009 at 11:10:38 PM at epicenter

Location    9.640°N, 78.980°W

Depth    39 km (24.2 miles) set by location program

Distances   96 km (59 miles) NE (37°) from PANAMA CITY, Panama
106 km (66 miles) ENE (72°) from Colon, Panama
165 km (103 miles) NNW (327°) from La Palma, Panama

Parameters    NST= 21, Nph= 21, Dmin=0 km, Rmss=0.86 sec, Gp= 61°,
M-type=body wave magnitude (Mb), Version=A

Tags: earthquake, Panama City

Here is an exceprt from the USGS:

Magnitude    6.0

Date-Time    Saturday, July 04, 2009 at 06:49:36 UTC
Saturday, July 04, 2009 at 01:49:36 AM at epicenter

Location        9.654°N, 78.983°W

Depth            43.1 km (26.8 miles)

Distances      97 km (60 miles) NE (36°) from PANAMA CITY, Panama
106 km (66 miles) ENE (71°) from Colon, Panama
167 km (104 miles) NNW (327°) from La Palma, Panama

Location Uncertainty    horizontal +/- 5.2 km (3.2 miles); depth +/- 8.6 km (5.3 miles)

Parameters    NST=209, Nph=209, Dmin=108.3 km, Rmss=0.95 sec, Gp= 43°,
M-type=teleseismic moment magnitude (Mw), Version=7

If someone cares to translate this for me…I am all ears…I mean eyes.

Tags: earthquake

The Gran Terminal Nacional de Transporte, or the Grand National Transportation Terminal at Albrook, was made before small bus terminals were dispersed across Panama City.  After the construction of the new terminal, passengers could now arrive or embark on their travels throughout the country from one centralized location.

It is a modern complex that covers some 70,000 square meters and is organized for easy arrival and departure of passengers.  The terminal has many amenities for the convenience of passengers.  These include comfortable waiting lounges with air conditioning, an area for luggage storage, extensive ticket counters to various points in the country, two large food courts, numerous shops and services, banks, a police sub-station, a computerized station controlling the flow of traffic, first aid stations, tourist information centers, direct access to Albrook Mall, and parking areas.  From the terminal, more than 1600 buses and transport vans leave to cover 52 routes – 50 domestic and 2 international.  To help compliment all these services, there are more than 200 registered taxis and special access roads that lead to and from the terminal.

Note due to unfortunate circumstances, the majority of post (along with part of the website) from June 2009 was deleted.  I will attempt to rebuild them as soon as possible.  Sorry for the inconvenience.

Tags: albrook, Public Buses, transportation