The powerful earthquake, which left 27 injured and caused severe infrastructure damage, affected major cities but hit small farming villages hardest across the provinces of Los Santos, Herrera, Coclé, and Veraguas, where hundreds of homes collapsed and schools and churches sustained damage.

“There are places we haven't reached yet and from which we don't even have damage reports,” René García, head of the Emergency Operations Center for the National Civil Protection System, told AFP.

“We haven't even been able to reach them to deliver aid,” he lamented.

Several of those communities are isolated hamlets with low population densities located around the town of Tonosí, 350 km southwest of Panama City, which served as the epicenter of the quake.

According to García, the earthquake has affected more than 3,500 people across the country so far. Additionally, it damaged 1,600 homes—many of which will have to be demolished—and 656 schools.

Communications also remain disrupted in several areas.

The government has distributed 90 tons of aid, including water, food, cots, tents, and various essential items.

The United States has also distributed supplies and announced $5 million in humanitarian assistance.

However, heavy rainfall—which hampers relief flights—and more than 400 aftershocks continue to complicate delivery efforts and damage assessment tasks.

“The ground is still shaking” in the area, so “we are going to wait” before beginning “reconstruction,” declared García. “This is just beginning,” he added.

The government announced Monday that electrical service has been restored in some areas, but classes remain suspended nationwide and several public institutions remain closed due to structural damage to their offices.

Furthermore, hundreds of people remain in a dozen shelters, parks, and gardens, unable to return to their homes.

Panama's capital, where the tremor was felt intensely, suffered no severe structural damage, though it triggered widespread panic.