In the shadow of collapsed homes and widespread destruction that has left Colombia reeling from one of its deadliest seismic events in recent years, small moments of joy are cutting through the grief: beloved pets pulled from rubble are being reunited with their heartbroken owners, offering glimmers of hope when all feels lost.
On Monday, a 7.4-magnitude earthquake ripped through western Colombia, battering Cali — the country’s third-largest city — and large stretches of the nation’s renowned coffee-growing region and Pacific coastline. Official death tolls have climbed to at least 273, with thousands more injured, and more than 12,000 homes reduced to rubble. The disaster has left countless families displaced and destitute, with hundreds of people still unaccounted for days after the tremor struck.
Rescue teams have worked around the clock, digging through concrete and twisted debris in a race against time to find surviving victims. By Thursday, the critical 72-hour window for finding trapped people alive had closed, but for a handful of Colombians, the search yielded an unexpected gift: the safe return of their furry family members.
Standing outside her crumpled home in Cali, 56-year-old lawyer Vickye Giraldo beams as she clutches her rescued kitten Polux tight to her chest, pressing a gentle kiss to the cat’s head. Giraldo shared her damaged apartment building — which now tilts dangerously to one side — with two dogs and two cats. One dog escaped alive, the other perished in the collapse, and her second cat remains missing. After days of fear that she would never see Polux again, the reunion has felt nothing short of miraculous.
“These have been very hard days, thinking we might not be able to rescue them, but in the end it’s a dream come true. It really is,” Giraldo told Agence France-Presse, her voice thick with tears as she held her cat close. “It’s an indescribable moment.”
She is not alone in finding small hope amid overwhelming loss. When a team of rescuers pulled a weak, trapped dog from a second collapsed structure on Thursday, onlookers erupted in applause. A team of veterinarians immediately rushed to the animal’s side, offering water before carrying the creature away on a stretcher for further care.
For many Colombians affected by the quake, pets are not just animals — they are family. That is the belief driving volunteer rescuers like Nelson Vidales, who has joined the effort to locate trapped pets even as the bulk of search efforts focus on missing humans.
“Pets are like children. I insist on that,” Vidales told AFP. “I know there are a lot of people thinking about humans, but the time must come when pets are looked for too. That’s what I’m here for.”
Even as many families still wait for good news — Andrea Paredes, another Cali resident, has not given up hope of finding her missing dog and cats, after her husband only managed to escape with one small dog during the quake — the small reunions have reminded a shaken nation of the bonds that persist even in disaster.