What we covered here
• Rescue efforts: Emergency responders are racing to find survivors after a magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck western Colombia, killing more than 200 people, according to a CNN count based on reports from officials. The government declared a national disaster and world leaders have offered assistance.
• Struggle of survivors: A senior UN worker warned food distribution will be crucial in the coming days, and one indigenous leader who lives near the epicenter of the quake says they have yet to receive help. Fellow survivors have been recounting their terrifying experiences.
• On the ground: CNN observed rescue workers and volunteers forming a human chain to help save those trapped in Pereira. Dramatic video from Cali shows the rescue of a baby from under the rubble. See how the quake unfolded, in maps and video.
• Sigue nuestra cobertura en español.
Updates
(41)Our live coverage has ended
Scroll through the posts below to look back at our coverage and get the latest here.
How a whisper in the rubble led to the rescue of a baby
Brian Osorio Zuluaga was at work when the earthquake struck Cali. He jumped on his motorcycle to rush home, but pulled over when the saw that the La Torre del Limonar five-story residential complex that had collapsed.
Osorio approached the rubble and began shouting into the wreckage. Then, he asked those around him for silence.
That was when he heard a sound — barely a whisper. “Yes, I’m here. I’m with a baby,” a man’s voice replied.
Seven other people nearby began helping him clear rubble to reach the man and the baby, but a large concrete slab was blocking their way.
“We all lifted together — one, two, three, up,” he told CNN. But the slab was too heavy to toss aside, and there could be more people trapped underneath. So several people held it aloft as others cleared a path to the baby.
Osorio held the baby, a boy, and handed him to a police officer, who took him to an ambulance. Afterward, firefighters were also able to pull out the man.
In the rubble, Osorio said he saw clothes, shoes, and a stuffed animal covered in dust. He thought about the people who might still be trapped.
“All those thoughts go through your mind,” he said. Osorio said he has not been able to get back in touch with the man who was with the baby, and he doesn’t know their condition, though he hopes both are doing well.
Osorio says the bravery of everyone who rushed to help saved the lives of both man and baby.
“No single person could have lifted that piece of rubble — it was so, so heavy,” he said.
How long can people survive in the rubble?
It has now been more than 36 hours since Colombia was struck by a deadly 7.4-magnitude earthquake, and rescue workers are racing to reach people trapped underneath debris and rubble.
Historically, the first 48 to 72 hours after a quake are widely regarded as the “golden” window to reach people buried alive — after that period the chances of survival without a water source diminishes rapidly.
Some rescue teams follow a “rule of fours,” which assumes that trapped people can survive four minutes without air, four days without water and four weeks without food.
But research suggests that “rigid, universal timeframes” may be inaccurate, as survival can be extended under rare conditions.
In the aftermath of a 7.8 magnitude earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria in 2023, people continued to be pulled from the rubble alive 10 days after the quake, defying expectations for survival. In Venezuela, a man was rescued eight days after two major earthquakes devastated parts of the country in June.
Emergency and disaster experts say several factors can increase chances of survival after the “golden” window, including whether those trapped have access to oxygen, water and food.
The state of a person’s health is also key, including whether they have minor injuries versus a major injury to the internal organs. And those with pre-existing medical conditions – who may be unable to access their medication or whose medication includes side effects such as dehydration – have a lower likelihood of survival, according to medical experts.
In pictures: Emergency responders race to find survivors after Colombia earthquake
A second day of search and rescue efforts is underway after a massive earthquake struck western Colombia on Monday.
The powerful earthquake comes as the country’s new president, Abelardo de la Espriella, faces a tough and early test of his abilities to handle a crisis.
Scroll through below for more photos of the scene in Colombia:
Colombian town mayor's son died in the earthquake
The young son of a mayor of a beach town near the epicenter of the earthquake was among those killed in the disaster.
Mateo Valencia, the six-year-old son of Bahía Solano’s Mayor, Jairson Leonel Valencia, died after his home collapsed, according to the mayor’s office.
Dozens of people attended a candle-lit vigil Monday night to mourn the boy and offer prayers to his family.
Former Foreign Minister Luis Gilberto Murillo, who also severed as Chocó governor, expressed solidarity, saying: “In these moments of immense pain, we raise our prayers to God so that He may grant the mayor, his family, and the entire community strength, comfort, and serenity to face this irreparable loss.”
Rescue efforts continue in Colombia’s hardest-hit regions as aftershocks shake the country
The death toll from the Colombia earthquake has risen to at least 224, according to a CNN tally. Colombia’s Geological Service has recorded more than 70 aftershocks across the country since yesterday’s deadly 7.4-magnitude quake.
Meanwhile, rescue workers are racing to reach people trapped underneath debris in the hardest-hit areas in the country.
Here’s the latest:
- The powerful earthquake caused a fire at a jail in Buenaventura, near Cali in the West of the country, leaving at least four people dead and two hospitalized, according to Dilian Francisca Toro, Governor of Valle del Cauca.
- First responders have rescued a woman from under the rubble of a collapsed building in Cali almost 30 hours after the powerful earthquake struck.
- A dramatic video from Cali shows the rescue of a baby from under the rubble of an apartment building.
- In Pereira, rescue workers and volunteers are actively searching for people “within what was an apartment building,” CNN’s David Culver said. He said rescue workers have brought in a crane and fuel truck directly behind it “just to keep the operations going.”
- Buildings in the city of Manizales sustained severe damage, Mayor Jorge Eduardo Rojas said this morning, adding that the death toll remains at five. He said the city has received thousands of requests to assess impacted homes, which will take at least a month.
- The La Italia district, located in the epicenter of the powerful earthquake, is dealing with structural damage, a lack of water and electricity a day after the tremor, community leader Jeison Guevara said.
- Colombia’s President Abelardo de la Espriella announced economic relief measures for those affected by Monday’s quake during his tour of cities in the country’s coffee region.
As charities on the ground provide aid to those affected, CNN’s Impact Your World has ways readers can help victims. Pledge your donation for those affected by the quake here.
CNN’s Mauricio Torres, Caroll Alvarado, Michael Rios, Gonzalo Zegarra and Catherine Nicholls contributed to this report.
US emergency team arriving in Colombia, while Mexico pledges help
The US has sent a Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) to Colombia to “support the government’s critical operations, programming, and overall response coordination,” according to a social media post from the US State Department.
The DART will arrive in the country today. The State Department added that the White House and US Embassy remain in “direct contact” with Colombian President Abelardo de la Espriella.
US assistance to Colombia comes as Mexican authorities are also offering aid and expertise. The Mexican government is preparing a contingent of 255 troops specialized in search and rescue, along with tons of humanitarian aid, to be sent as soon as Colombia formally requests it.
Colombian community at earthquake’s epicenter suffers damage, lacks water and power
A district at the epicenter of Colombia’s powerful earthquake is dealing with structural damage and a lack of water and electricity a day after the tremor, community leader Jeison Guevara told CNN.
La Italia district, located in the mountainous municipality of San José del Palmar, hasn’t yet reported any deaths but several buildings and roads are damaged, he said.
“Some homes in the municipal center do have damage to sidewalks, internal damage,” said Guevara, a bakery owner who was with customers when the earthquake struck.
San José del Palmar, an rural agricultural town of roughly 5,900 people, is currently isolated from the rest of the country. The main road out of town to neighboring Cartago is blocked by 18 separate landslides, according to Guevara. He said there’s only one bulldozer working to clear the road at the moment, and it will take some time for more resources to reach the stricken community.
Guevara described an atmosphere of “anxiety” on Monday night because residents feared there could be an aftershock during the power outage. Today everyone is trying to gradually resume their daily activities as they wait for services to be restored.
“This morning, well, everyone is back to their work, trying to charge their phones with some generators we have here in the municipality, in the district. The community is being given the opportunity to charge, to communicate, to inform their families that we are well, thank God, technically we are fine, and we are coping with the situation, which is what’s important,” he said.
Colombian baby rescued from rubble of Cali apartment building
Dramatic video from Cali, Colombia, shows the rescue of a baby from under the rubble of an apartment building.
Brian Osorio Zuluaga told CNN that he heard the La Torre del Limonar building collapse during Monday’s earthquake.
Osorio Zuluaga said he approached the building to try to help even though another woman had warned him about a possible gas leak.
While calling out for survivors he heard a faint male voice say “I’m over here. I’m with a baby.”
“I told the person to scream louder if possible,” said Osorio Zuluaga, “When I finally located where their voice was coming from, I yelled for help. ‘There’s one over here! They’re with a baby; they’re with a baby!’”
Osorio Zuluaga said that he and six others pulled the baby out before emergency responders arrived and continued the rescue efforts.
Colombia earthquake caused fire at a jail, leaving 4 dead
The powerful earthquake that struck Colombia on Monday caused a fire at a jail in Buenaventura, near Cali in the West of the country, leaving at least four people dead and two hospitalized, Valle del Cauca Governor Dilian Francisca Toro said on Tuesday.
The fire, which was extinguished around 1:30 a.m., caused serious damage to the Marte detention center. It held roughly 370 inmates from some of Colombia’s biggest gangs, Toro said.
The governor has asked the justice ministry and national prisons agency to transfer the inmates to other penitentiary centers to prevent any “risk of violence.”
Colombia’s president orders financial relief for those affected by earthquake
Colombia’s President Abelardo de la Espriella announced economic relief measures for those affected by Monday’s earthquake during his tour of cities in the country’s coffee region.
The president said today that he ordered the Minister of Housing to decree “an economic relief in public services for all people affected in Risaralda for three months.” It means people won’t need to pay household bills, allowing people “some respite in the midst of this tragedy.”
People who lost their homes will be given financial support to rent temporary housing. The cost of repairing and rebuilding will be addressed later, he said.
Pereira, the capital of Risaralda, is one of the cities most severly affected by the earthquake, with more than 70 dead.
“In Pereira, we assessed the situation and coordinated all the capacities of the State to respond quickly and forcefully to the affected communities. We are on the ground, at the forefront of the emergency and alongside our people,” De la Espriella said on X.
Woman rescued from rubble of collapsed building in Cali
First responders have rescued a woman from under the rubble of a collapsed building in Cali almost 30 hours after a magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck Colombia.
Video shows people cheering as firemen carried her out on a stretcher after pulling her out of a mountain of concrete.
Officials identified the woman as Diana Troncoso and said she is in stable condition. She’s a medic in her early 30s and was alone in her apartment when it collapsed, local media reported.
Firefighters from Cali and from the capital, Bogotá, were involved in the hours-long rescue operation, which they described as complex.
Rescuers work to reach people trapped underneath rubble in Pereira
CNN’s David Culver is on the ground in Pereira, Colombia, where rescue workers and volunteers are racing to reach people trapped underneath rubble.
“There’s folks who have jumped in and you can see they’re wearing everything from athleisure wear to shorts, tennis shoes — they’re not prepared for this. The gloves have been handed out by volunteers, and yet they’re stepping in to help determined to try to do something to contribute,” Culver said, while reporting live for CNN.
Rescue workers and volunteers are actively searching for people “within what was an apartment building,” Culver said. “And you can see it’s covered now.”
He said rescue workers have brought in a crane and fuel truck directly behind it “just to keep the operations going.”
More than 70 aftershocks have occurred since quake, Colombian Geological Service says
Colombia’s Geological Service has recorded more than 70 aftershocks across the country since the deadly 7.4 magnitude earthquake took place yesterday, with the latest being felt a short while ago.
The new seismic event this morning had a magnitude of 3.8, the agency said. Although far less powerful than yesterday’s earthquake, this was still felt in several cities across the country.
The epicenter of the aftershock, at a depth of 99 kilometers, was once again located in San José del Palmar, in the department of Chocó.
It is “likely” that aftershocks will continue to occur, the Colombian Geological Service said yesterday afternoon, when it had already counted nearly 50 seismic events, the largest of which was magnitude 4.8.
“These can last for days, weeks, or even months, as energy continues to be released until the areas surrounding the rupture zone of the main earthquake are balanced again,” it explained.
Manizales mayor says city will need at least a month for assessment and recovery efforts
Buildings in the city of Manizales sustained severe damage, Mayor Jorge Eduardo Rojas said this morning, adding that the death toll remains at five.
In a video posted to X, Rojas said officials have received thousands of requests to assess impacted homes.
“There are so many needs, so many homes, that this will take us a month or a little more,” he said.
The mayor said there are 60 buildings with total or partial collapse in the city.
“There are 2,000 people affected, and we will likely reach 4,000, with 150 people in the shelter at the Coliseo Mayor,” he recounted.
He also asked evacuated residents to register with the firefighters to be eligible for a subsidy.
Days into his term, Colombia’s president confronts a major disaster
The earthquake is one of the first major challenges for Colombia’s new President Abelardo de la Espriella. He took office only last week after his election on a far-right platform, promising to strike hard at criminal groups and leftist militants in Colombia.
He mocked previous government efforts at peacemaking in his inaugural address, declaring that the “option of dialogue is completely exhausted.”
It had been expected that De la Espriella’s first week in office would be devoted to that security agenda. Criminals killed a police officer in northern Colombia with explosive drones less than 24 hours after de la Espriella was sworn in. The next day, his government shared video of 117 high-profile prisoners being shuffled to different maximum-security facilities.
“A country without security has nothing, and we are going to recover it with an iron fist,” de la Espriella said in the video.
Just before the earthquake struck, the BBC reported that De la Espriella’s government targeted and killed the alleged leader of a leftist militant group.
The earthquake may prove to be a test of de la Espriella’s anti-crime strategy in addition to his disaster management skills. The epicenter of the earthquake was in Chocó, one of Colombia’s more underdeveloped regions and a significant hub for criminal and militant activity.
It’s unclear how the security situation in Chocó will affect rescue, recovery and rebuilding efforts in the aftermath of the earthquake. Government statistics show that Colombia has seen a 20% increase in injuries from landmines planted by paramilitary groups in recent years.
Last year, the City Paper Bogota reported the department’s governor saying that people are “afraid to walk” in many areas for fear of triggering a mine.
Death toll from Colombia earthquake rises to at least 224, according to CNN tally
The death toll from yesterday’s earthquake in Colombia has risen to 224 people killed, according to a CNN count based on reports from agencies and authorities in the country.
Since CNN’s last update, nine more deaths have been reported in the department of Chocó in western Colombia, according to its governor Nubia Carolina Córdoba-Curi.
A total of 138 people have also been injured with another five people missing in the department, Córdoba-Curi said.
How you can help Colombia earthquake victims
At least 213 people have died and more than 1,500 homes are damaged or destroyed as a result of the powerful 7.4 magnitude earthquake that struck Colombia on Monday.
As charities on the ground are providing aid to those affected, CNN’s Impact Your World has ways readers can help victims.
Pledge your donation for those affected by the quake here.
Impact Your World will continue to monitor the situation and add additional vetted organizations as they begin operations in Colombia.
Musical festival in Cali cancels this year's event after earthquake
A music festival that was set to be held in Cali this week has been canceled after yesterday’s deadly earthquake, in which the western Colombian city was hit particularly hard.
The mayor of Cali, Alejandro Eder, “has decided to suspend” this year’s edition of the Petronio Alvarez Festival following the disaster, the event’s organizers announced on Instagram.
This year was set to be the 30th edition of the festival, which is held every August, according to Colombia’s tourism board.
“More than 3,500 artists bring the festival to life, playing instruments inherited from the region’s first inhabitants,” the tourism board says, calling it an “opportunity to show the world the music, gastronomy, crafts and ancestral knowledge of the country’s Afro-descendant culture.”
CNN’s Michelle Velez contributed to this reporting.
"Every block has some sense of destruction": CNN reporter describes aftermath of quake
In the Colombian city of Pereira, a CNN crew has witnessed the scale of the destruction after yesterday’s deadly earthquake, as rescue teams desperately search for survivors in the rubble of collapsed buildings.
Describing the scenes from Pereira live on CNN, Culver said the atmosphere was “eerily quiet” as rescuers listened out for survivors.
A crane has been deployed and canine search and rescue teams are searching for people trapped under rubble, Culver said, including under one building that used to host apartments, a bar and a drug store.
Culver spoke to one man who witnessed the building collapsing in the earthquake. The man said that he felt “a lot of confusion” and “powerless at times.”
“What’s happened in Venezuela and other parts of the world now is happening right here in his community,” Culver said of the man. “And he said, ‘It’s moments like this that you have to come together.’”
