Here's the latest
• 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 has 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, with one describing it like a scene from a horror movie. In the city of Pereira, a man told CNN he felt “powerless” amid the destruction.
• Where it happened: The epicenter was located in San José del Palmar, in an underdeveloped area of western Colombia, about 150 miles west of Bogotá. You can see how it unfolded here, in maps and video.
• Sigue nuestra cobertura en español.
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.’”
More than 200 killed, as rescuers search for earthquake survivors. Catch up
At least 213 people have been confirmed killed following a powerful 7.4 magnitude quake in Colombia on Monday, according to a CNN tally of figures from local authorities, as paramedics struggle to keep apace of mounting rescue needs.
Communities in two of the most densely populated cities in the South American nation – Cali and Pereira – are facing some of the heaviest impact, according to the Colombian Association of Capital Cities.
Throughout the country, disoriented residents, health workers and volunteers are scrambling through the rubble of pancaked buildings and clambering over mounds of debris – as they reckon with the mammoth scale of destruction.
Here’s what you need to know:
- Scattered rescue efforts: Victor Chamapuro, leader of the Wounaan Indigenous Reserve “Buenavista” in Litoral del San Juan, Chocó department, warned aid is yet to reach the area, which can only be entered by boat on a five-hour journey from the port of Buenaventura, on Colombia’s Pacific coast.
- Food assistance needs: Nils Grede, the country director for the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) in Colombia, said getting food and water to survivors would be “important in these first days after the catastrophe.” Residents with disabilities are struggling with additional survival challenges, the global NGO, CARE International said on Tuesday.
- International leaders step in: The European Union mobilized its satellite service and is providing funding to strengthen response operations, the bloc’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on Tuesday.
- Below-grade buildings: John Londoño of the Colombian Geological Service (SGC), told Spanish newspaper El País that a “huge number of low-income and social housing dwellings” do not meet earthquake resistance rules for new construction projects, exacerbating “danger for the most vulnerable people.”
- Pope Leo pays tribute to those killed: Pope Leo XIV is “deeply saddened to learn the painful news of the earthquake” in Colombia. In the letter to survivors, which was sent through the Colombian Episcopal Conference, the pope said he is praying “for the eternal rest of the deceased.”
“Like one of those disaster movies”: Earthquake survivor in Cali recalls first tremors
A native Californian, Mark Ericson grew up with earthquakes. But little could have prepared him for the once-in-a-decade quake that careened through Colombia on Monday.
The former TV journalist was inside his house in Cali, west of the capital Bogotá, when he felt a gentle rumbling that quickly morphed into convulsive tremors – lasting about 45 seconds to a minute.
Communities in Cali, the third-largest city in Colombia, have faced some of the most lethal impacts of the earthquake nationwide – with at least 95 people killed there alone, according to local agencies and authorities in the country. Multiple landslides trapped residents in parts of the city on Monday, the UN reported.
Across the country, those with disabilities are plagued by additional survival challenges, the global NGO, CARE International said on Tuesday. For Ericson’s son, who has autism, trying to escape the building “was very difficult,” he said.
Moments later, disoriented residents were streaming onto the streets, said Ericson. Just a couple of blocks away, an entire apartment building had collapsed, he told CNN. “It was chaos… Like you’re in one of those disaster movies,” said Ericson.
Nearly 24 hours after the earthquake first struck Colombia, paramedics are struggling to keep apace of emergency needs, according to Ericson, propelling civilians into action. “Everybody is just coming together to help each other out,” he said.
CNN’s Brooke Jenner and Christina Macfarlane contributed reporting.
Experts say earthquake-prone Colombia needs to better prepare
Colombia is highly vulnerable to seismic activity given its position on the Pacific Ring of Fire and the confluence of three tectonic plates, and experts say that the country needs to do more to prepare for future earthquakes.
Speaking to Spanish newspaper El País in an article published Monday, Flover Rodríguez, geologist and director of the Colombian Association of Energy Geologists and Geophysicists (ACGGP), said that authorities need to update the land-use maps on which seismic regulations are based.
“Colombia needs to establish a clear land use policy to protect its people,” he said.
To this end, the ACGGP had already called on the government to improve the quality of mapping data in a statement published at the end of July. It also expressed its concern that there is no centralized database detailing which municipalities have carried out basic geological studies, which would help to reduce the risk of damage from earthquakes, landslides and floods.
In addition, John Londoño of the Colombian Geological Service (SGC) told El País that, despite recent advances in earthquake resistance rules for new construction projects, there are many buildings that fall short of these requirements.
“A huge number of low-income and social housing dwellings don’t meet these standards,” he said. “This is a huge danger for the most vulnerable people.”
Gina Villalobos, a civil engineer and professor of seismology, added that although engineering and building designs are of a high quality, standards can slip during the construction phase.
“A lot of the time construction projects don’t follow the plans in order to save time or money, and the earthquake resistance rules are broken,” she told El País.
Death toll from Colombia earthquake reaches at least 213, according to CNN tally
The number of confirmed deaths as a result of yesterday’s earthquake in Colombia has reached at least 213, according to a CNN count based on reports from agencies and authorities in the country, as search and rescue efforts for survivors continue.
CNN’s current tally is as follows:
- Deaths in Cali: 95
- Deaths in Pereira: 66
- Deaths in the department of Valle del Cauca, excluding Cali: 38
- Deaths in Quibdó: 9
- Deaths in Manizales: 5
Cali and Pereira, both in western Colombia, “present the most critical situation, with collapsed structures and people trapped,” according to a report released by the Colombian Association of Capital Cities this morning.
Meanwhile, Bogotá and Medellín, the two largest and most populous cities in the country, “have not reported serious damage and continue to keep their verification protocols active,” the report says. Those cities are located more centrally in the country.
In pictures: Race to find earthquake survivors as rescue workers search rubble
Emergency personnel work to remove rubble and debris following yesterday’s 7.4 magnitude earthquake in western Colombia.
These are some of the latest images we’re seeing from on the ground.
CNN team on scene as rescue workers attempt to save people trapped in Pereira building
A CNN team is present on the scene in the Colombian city of Pereira, where rescue efforts are under way to save people trapped in a building after Monday’s 7.4 magnitude earthquake.
A report from the Colombian Association of Capital Cities indicated Pereira, and the city of Cali, “present the most critical situation, with collapsed structures and people trapped.”
CNN’s David Culver filed this short dispatch from the Freedom Plaza area, which you can see by pressing play on the video above.
Pope Leo offers prayers for those affected by Colombian earthquake
Pope Leo XIV is “deeply saddened to learn the painful news of the earthquake” in Colombia, the Vatican has said in a letter sent to the victims of the disaster.
In the letter, which was sent through the Colombian Episcopal Conference, the pope said he is praying “for the eternal rest of the deceased” and that he raises his “prayers to the Lord for the swift recovery of those affected by this tragedy.”
Leo sent his condolences to the families of the victims, expressing “his gratitude to all those who, with generous dedication, are working in the search, rescue, and assistance efforts for those affected,” the Vatican’s letter said.
“Today, we don’t have a home.” Family in Pereira describes terror during earthquake
Phone footage shows the moment when the 7.4 magnitude earthquake hit and Liliana Perez Ocampo’s family had to quickly evacuate their house in Pereira, one of the cities most affected by the catastrophe. “We are still in shock, it was agonizing to see how long it took for my son to get out,” she told CNN.
As all communications were cut in the city, she explained, “There was the anguish of not knowing anything about my young children who were at school.”
Today, she says, they don’t have a home. “We cannot go back to it, and how do you explain that to the children?”
At least 175 people confirmed dead as earthquake toll climbs
On Tuesday morning, the Colombian Association of Capital Cities reported that the death toll from the earthquake in Colombia had reached 165. However, that figure has since risen after authorities in Cali added 10 fatalities to their previous count, bringing the total number of deaths in the country’s major cities to 175 people killed.
The association’s tally – current as of 5:30 a.m. local time (6:30 a.m. ET) – listed 85 deaths in Cali, 55 in Pereira, nine in Quibdó, and five in Manizales. The group’s previous report, issued after participating in meetings with the national government to coordinate the emergency response, had put the death toll at 132.
Subsequently, the Cali Mayor’s Office reported – with figures current as of 6:30 a.m. local time (7:30 a.m. ET) – that the city had recorded 95 fatalities, 949 injuries, and 239 people trapped in the rubble.
The once-in-a-decade quake struck San José del Palmar in the mountainous region of Chocó earlier this week, with tremors hurtling through the capital Bogotá and several other densely populated cities, including Pereira and Cali. Colombia’s President Abelardo de la Espriella, who was only inaugurated on Friday, swiftly declared a state of national disaster, as international leaders pledged to bolster aid operations on the ground.
Survivor walks through rubble after Colombia quake leaves homes "destroyed"
A survivor of yesterday’s earthquake in western Colombia has spoken about how the disaster has affected his neighborhood, showcasing the rubble of destroyed homes that used to house his neighbors.
Watch more in the video above.
UN official forecasts growing need for “food assistance” in coming days
As paramedics scoured flattened buildings for earthquake survivors in Colombia on Tuesday, a senior UN worker warned food distribution will be crucial following the initial emergency response efforts.
Nils Grede, the country director for the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) in Colombia, insisted getting amenities to survivors would be “important in these first days after the catastrophe.”
“We’ve just gone through this experience in Venezuela two months ago, going through the rubble, saving lives,” Grede told CNN’s Polo Sandoval on CNN Newsroom. “But very quickly, within the next few days, we will need to provide food assistance.”
The 7.4 magnitude quake on Monday came weeks after two once-in-a-century twin quakes tore through neighboring Venezuela in late June, killing more than 6,000 people and leaving families in the dark about missing loved ones after years of government mismanagement.
“We don’t yet know the magnitude that this will have in Colombia,” said Grede. “But, we could reach similar levels (to Venezuela) very quickly.”
Inside Colombia, tremors from the quake’s epicenter reached as far as the remote region of Chocó on Monday, where sparse inroads could potentially delay efforts to reach more than half a million residents, according to Grece. Elsewhere, the densely populated cities of Pereira and Manizales, located about 100 kilometers (62 miles) from the epicenter, were also hit. In total, about 5,000 buildings were impacted by the quake, the WFP official added.
CNN’s Polo Sandoval and Rahwa Asmerom contributed reporting.
Help has yet to reach isolated area near earthquake epicenter, says local leader
A indigenous leader who lives near the epicenter of Monday’s earthquake has told CNN that help has yet to reach the area.
Victor Chamapuro, leader of the Wounaan Indigenous Reserve “Buenavista” in Litoral del San Juan, Chocó department, told CNN that the earthquake “felt so strong.”
“All our houses are on the ground. Where are we going to sleep now? We have to be alert now, we’re sleeping outside,” he said.
Chamapuro added that one person in the community was injured, and called on authorities to send food and medicine.
The “Buenavista” reserve can only be reached by boat on a five-hour journey from the port of Buenaventura, on Colombia’s Pacific coast.
Chamapuro also sent video footage from the reserve showing flattened buildings that appear to be built from timber and corrugated iron sheets. Others can be seen still standing but with varying levels of damage.
EU provides satellite service and funding to help earthquake response
The European Union has mobilized its satellite service and is providing funding to help the response to the deadly 7.4 magnitude earthquake that struck Colombia yesterday, the bloc’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas has said.
“The EU has mobilized Copernicus, our satellite service, to support rescue and relief operations. We are providing funding to support the response, including through the Red Cross,” she outlined.
The EU’s crisis consular assistance mechanism has also been activated to support the bloc’s citizens who have been affected by the earthquake, Kallas said.
This means that EU citizens whose home country does not have a diplomatic presence in Colombia can request help in being evacuated from the country, according to the European Commission’s website.
