A Bermudian living in Panama has described the moment a 7.7-magnitude earthquake shook the Central American nation.

David Lovell Jr, who relocated to the country in March 2021, was standing in his back garden in La Chorrera, west of Panama City, on Friday when the tremors started.

No deaths have been reported, but damage has occurred to infrastructure across the country, while aftershocks continue to take place.

Mr Lovell, who was first interviewed on TNN this week, said his property escaped any significant harm, and he has since been making efforts to help those in the worst-affected areas.

“It’s still going on,” he told The Royal Gazette.

“They said [that aftershocks could go on] for the rest of the year, I believe. So we are all still on high alert.

“My wife, who has been living in Panama all her life, has never experienced this. Since I have been here, I have experienced a little bit here and there, but nothing of this magnitude.

“Recently, Venezuela had a similar one — there was a huge death toll there.

“Thank God we have not had any fatalities. They’re still doing counts right now because the destruction has been drastic.”

Describing the initial earthquake, which started shortly before 1pm, Mr Lovell said: “It feels like the ground is going from beneath your feet. In some parts, the road has opened up and been completely destroyed.

“It felt like the ground was going to open up. I felt myself going up and down, almost like I was surfing.

“It felt long. It did feel like a good minute or so. If it was one minute, it felt like five.”

“We have had hundreds of messages [from Bermuda]. My mother, father and sister are all out here as well,” Mr Lovell, who hails from Hamilton Parish, added.

During the interview, the 43-year-old said he could feel the ground moving as yet another aftershock struck.

“We had a 6.6 yesterday, I believe, as well. We have been having a bunch of these aftershocks. We didn’t get to sleep last night.”

The business owner has been shopping for essential items to distribute to those in the most impacted areas.

“There are a number of people who have lost homes,” Mr Lovell said.

“We’re going to be helping out a lot more in the coming days and weeks with the humanitarian crisis out here.”

Tremors are expected to continue in the coming weeks, with mobile phone notifications arriving moments before they happen to give a short window to take precautions.

Mr Lovell added: “The alert goes off for us. It counts down. Sometimes we get at least 30 seconds before the actual earthquake happens.

“It gives us enough time to get out the house. We’ve been in and out the house a lot, especially during the worst earthquake a few days ago.

“Today [Tuesday] we’re still receiving these alerts. They seem to be pretty mild right now, but they’re always happening. We just never know when they are going to be a 5.0 or higher.

“That’s what we’re experiencing, and this will be for the rest of the year, I imagine.”