A powerful 7.4-magnitude earthquake has devastated western Colombia on Monday morning, leaving at least 69 people dead, dozens more trapped beneath collapsed building debris, and triggering panic across multiple neighboring countries.
The tremor struck at 7:34 a.m. local time, centered 100 kilometers deep beneath the San Jose del Palmar municipality in the coastal Choco region, a low-income area where full damage counts have yet to be confirmed. The highest death toll has been recorded in Risaralda, where 40 people lost their lives. An additional 27 fatalities were reported in the Valle del Cauca department, and two more people died in Manizales, a major hub in Colombia’s famed coffee-growing region.
Local officials across affected areas have described a catastrophic situation. In Manizales, an AFP correspondent on the ground confirmed that a historic tower of the city’s iconic cathedral collapsed, and dozens of other structures sustained severe damage. “A great many buildings in the city sustained damage,” said 50-year-old local administrator Jaime Zuluaga. “Traffic is paralyzed and people don’t want to go back to their homes for fear of an aftershock.” In Cali, Colombia’s third-largest city, 20 structures have crumbled, leaving an unknown number of residents trapped under rubble, according to Mayor Alejandro Eder. In the epicentral region’s capital Quibdo, Choco Governor warned of extensive destruction, with amateur footage showing multiple buildings reduced to piles of rubble.
The shaking was powerful enough to be felt hundreds of kilometers away, in the Colombian capital Bogota, as well as in neighboring Ecuador, Panama, and Venezuela. In Bogota, where only minor damage was reported, AFP reporters witnessed thousands of residents, many still in their pajamas, fleeing multi-story buildings into the streets in panic when the tremor hit. “The quake was very, very strong,” said 29-year-old local content creator Valeria Polo.
In the wake of the disaster, authorities have enacted emergency measures across western Colombia. The country’s civil aeronautics agency announced the immediate suspension of operations at six regional airports, and the national football governing body has postponed all upcoming scheduled matches out of caution. Emergency response teams have been deployed to affected regions to conduct search and rescue operations for survivors trapped in rubble.
The disaster comes just four days after Colombian President Abelardo de la Espriella was sworn into office. The new head of state announced he was convening an emergency meeting of government officials in Bogota to coordinate the response, and addressed the nation in a televised message. “To the Colombians who are going through difficult times today, I want to say: You are not alone,” he said.
International offers of support have already poured in from across the globe. De la Espriella, who campaigned on a platform of closer ties with the United States and Israel, has received public messages of solidarity from both nations. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote on social media platform X that Washington was “closely monitoring the large earthquake that struck Colombia and stands ready to support the people of Colombia.” Israel also offered assistance, along with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa.
The disaster comes just months after a pair of large earthquakes, measuring magnitude 7.2 and 7.5, hit neighboring Venezuela in June, killing more than 6,000 people and leaving a trail of widespread destruction across the country’s northern regions.