At least 111 people killed, many trapped as powerful earthquake hits Colombia

Bogota, Colombia: A powerful 7.4 magnitude earthquake struck western Colombia, killing at least 111 people, damaging hundreds of buildings and leaving many trapped under debris while their loved ones and rescue workers searched through rubble.

Colombia’s President Abelardo de la Espriella said at least 87 people were injured and about 1600 buildings damaged, including at least 61 that completely collapsed. He declared an emergency to expedite funding for the quake recovery while saying he would visit the disaster zone.

“We aren’t going to leave people alone. They are in our hearts and we are going to tend to people with our full determination,” he said.

The epicentre was in San Jose Del Palmar, a community of about 4800 people in the Choco region about 400 kilometres west of Bogota, the US Geological Survey said. The quake also was felt in neighbouring Ecuador and Panama, though minimal damage was reported there.

The quake ravaged cities across western Colombia, including Pereira, Quibdo, Cali and Manizales.

In the country’s third-largest city, Cali, search teams and civilians picked through the remains of destroyed buildings, passing large pieces of concrete and other rubble down a long line of volunteers.

The desperate scene brought memories of the searches still ongoing in neighbouring Venezuela weeks after that country was devastated by two powerful earthquakes.

Colombia’s Geological Service said Monday’s quake was the strongest recorded in Colombia “in the 21st century”, and that it was followed by 21 less powerful aftershocks.

While Colombia typically registers thousands of small quakes every month, Northwestern University seismologist Suzan van der Lee said the strong magnitude, inland epicentre near soft river valleys and movement of the plates may have contributed to more intense damage.

“This one was far below the (earth’s) crust, and in theory, it shouldn’t cause as much shaking. At this magnitude, it did actually cause a lot of shaking,” she said. “A magnitude 7.4 is about 32 times as powerful as a magnitude 6.4.”

Colombia’s Pacific region around the quake’s epicentre lies along the “Ring of Fire,” the line of seismic faults encircling the Pacific Ocean where most of the world’s earthquakes occur. The Pacific, particularly the Choco region, is one of the poorest regions in the country. Nestled in the dense jungle, much of Choco is only reachable by boat or plane, which may pose a problem for authorities in assessing the wider toll.

Jorge Moncayo, a 64-year-old taxi driver in Cali, said he saw plumes of dust shoot up across the city as buildings collapsed. Residents and rescue workers were searching the rubble for survivors.

“My entire house shook. I’ve never lived through such a powerful earthquake,” he said. “We’re thanking God we’re alive.”

Local authorities said the death toll included at least 40 people who were killed in the Risaralda region, where the hard-hit city of Pereira is located, as well as 27 people in the Valle del Cauca region, where Cali is located, including three children.

Authorities also confirmed nine people killed in Choco, two in the Caldas region and a 73-year-old in the Antioquia region. It was not immediately clear where the other 32 people died.

Authorities said flights were suspended in the airports of Manizales, Quibdo, Armenia, Cartago, Buenaventura and Pereira as they assessed damage.

The earthquakes left many in the Andean nation unnerved after two back-to-back quakes devastated neighbouring Venezuela in late June, destroyed hundreds of buildings and killed more than 5000 people.

Little was known about the extent of the damage in Choco, a remote region where officials reported dozens of injured people and damaged buildings but few other details. Phone signals were out in many parts of region’s capital, Quibdo. The town closest to the earthquake’s epicentre, San Jose del Palmar, has no airport, and is located on top of a mountain ridge along a highway linking the cities of Cali and Pereira.

In Pereira, further south in the coffee-producing mountains of Colombia, photos and videos published by local media showed pieces of the airport ceiling falling down on travellers taking shelter and screaming.

In the city, people were shown running through rubble and plumes of dust. Pereira’s mayor, Mauricio Salazar, told a local radio station that more people were trapped under “a massive quantity of collapsed buildings.”

In nearby Manizales, one of the towers of the neo-Gothic cathedral collapsed and fell on the nave. Mayor Jorge Eduardo Rojas asked residents to stay outside in case of aftershocks.

In Cali, a city of 2 million people, Mayor Alejandro Eder said that residents were trapped in at least 19 buildings that had collapsed.

Small earthquakes, known as “temblores”, are common in central and western Colombia, but those above 6.0 magnitude are rare. In 1999, a 6.2 magnitude quake near the city of Armenia killed more than 1100 people.

Colombia’s newly inaugurated president said Monday that he had personally taken charge of the government’s response to the emergency.

“You are not alone. The state is present and taking action,” he said.

Response to the earthquake presents the first major challenge to de la Espriella, a Trump ally who was sworn in as president over the weekend.

Messages of support rolled in from leaders across the Americas, including Mexico, Brazil, Ecuador, El Salvador and the United States.

“The Trump administration is closely monitoring the large earthquake that struck Colombia and stands ready to support the people of Colombia,” U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote in a post on X.

A number of countries offered aid, and the UN deputy spokesman, Farhan Haq, said “we stand ready to help as needed”.

Reuters, AP

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