A magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck Colombia on Monday, killing at least 132 people and injuring 570 others, according to the Colombian Association of Capital Cities, while hundreds more remain missing across western regions including Cali, Pereira, Quibdo and Manizales. The US Geological Survey placed the epicentre at San Jose Del Palmar in the Choco region, about 400 kilometres west of the capital, Bogota, at a depth of 107 kilometres.
Colombia earthquake kills at least 132, hundreds missing after magnitude 7.4 strike
A magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck Colombia on Monday, killing at least 132 people and injuring 570 others, according to the Colombian Association of Capital Cities, while hundreds more remain missing across western regions including Cali, Pereira, Quibdo and Manizales. The US Geological Survey placed the epicentre at San Jose Del Palmar in the Choco region, about 400 kilometres west of the capital, Bogota, at a depth of 107 kilometres.
At least 21 aftershocks followed within hours of the quake, which was also felt in neighbouring Ecuador and Panama, according to the source. The Colombian Geological Service described it as the country's strongest recorded earthquake in the 21st century.
President Abelardo de la Espriella, who was sworn in days before the earthquake, declared a national state of emergency at approximately 1pm local time (18:00 GMT). In a national address, he said preliminary reports indicated 111 dead and 87 injured, along with dozens of collapsed buildings and damaged homes, and stated that rescuing people trapped under rubble was the administration's first priority.
Regional death tolls varied across the affected areas. Local authorities said at least 40 people died in the Risaralda region, including in its capital Pereira, where at least 15 buildings collapsed. At least 27 people died in the Valle del Cauca region, where Cali is located, including three children. Governor Nubia Carolina Cordoba said 12 people were killed and 84 injured in the Choco region, where communications outages slowed information flow, leaving some areas without mobile phone service hours after the quake.
In Cali, the country's third-largest city, local officials said at least 20 buildings crumbled and 380 were damaged. By Monday afternoon, a digital missing-persons database had recorded more than 1,400 names, mostly from Cali and Pereira, with the number continuing to rise. The civil aviation authority suspended operations at several airports in western Colombia — including those in Pereira, Manizales, Quibdo, Armenia, Cartago and Buenaventura — pending structural inspections.
Colombia sits along the seismically active Pacific Ring of Fire, where low-intensity tremors are common but earthquakes above magnitude 6 are rare. The last comparable event was a magnitude 6.2 earthquake near Armenia in 1999 that killed more than 1,100 people.
On Monday night, the US Department of State announced it would provide $15.5 million for emergency shelter, food and other earthquake response assistance. Governments including El Salvador, Mexico, Chile, Israel, Ecuador and France also offered aid.
- The source does not state the total number of people confirmed missing in an official count, only that one digital database had recorded more than 1,400 names by Monday afternoon.
- The source does not specify the precise date on which President De la Espriella was sworn in, only that it was days before the earthquake.
- The source does not detail what specific aid or resources Chile, Israel, Ecuador, France, or Mexico offered beyond general pledges of assistance.
- The source does not state the current status of rescue operations in communications-affected areas of the Choco region as of the time of publication.
- The source does not reconcile the difference between President De la Espriella's preliminary figure of 111 dead and the Colombian Association of Capital Cities' figure of at least 132 dead.
- The source does not state whether the more than 1,400 names on the missing-persons database represent unique individuals or whether duplicates were identified.
Read the original at Al Jazeera English