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# Satellite Survey Finds 2,351 Quake Landslides
- URL: https://balboa.news/satellite-survey-finds-2-351-quake-landslides/
- Published: 2026-10-18T12:40:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-18T12:40:00.000Z
- Author: Balboa News Desk
- Tags: National

A preliminary satellite survey has identified 2,351 landslides associated with Panama’s October 9 earthquake, revealing extensive changes to the landscape beyond the damage recorded in towns and villages.

The University of Panama’s Institute of Geosciences released the updated findings on October 17\. Researchers used imagery from the European Copernicus Sentinel-2 L2A system to locate areas where slopes had failed.

The institute cautioned that the count remains incomplete. Clouds obscured some areas when the satellite images were captured, potentially leaving additional landslides undetected. Researchers are processing further imagery and checking findings on the ground.

The mapped landslides include locations in Veraguas, Herrera and Los Santos. Reporting on the institute’s findings identified concentrations around Torio, in Mariato district, and La Cabuya, in Parita district.

The figure describes movements of earth associated with the earthquake. It does not mean that 2,351 communities, roads or buildings were struck. The published findings have not established how many individual slides affected infrastructure or occupied areas.

The assessment provides a different measure of the disaster’s reach from the government’s counts of damaged homes and displaced residents. Satellite imagery can reveal slope failures in mountainous or sparsely populated terrain that inspection teams may find difficult to access.

Rain remains a concern in the affected region. In its October 18 forecast, Panama’s meteorological institute reported soil saturation above 65% in Chiriquí, Veraguas, the central provinces, Colón and Panamá, with increased potential for rising waterways and landslides.

That weather forecast does not establish that every slope identified in the satellite survey remains unstable. It does, however, underscore the need to distinguish the earthquake’s documented effects from continuing rainfall-related hazards as field assessments proceed.

**Sources**: Telemetro