Weeks after a pair of destructive earthquakes killed hundreds and displaced thousands across neighboring Venezuela, Colombia has been struck by its own deadly seismic event that has left communities reeling and humanitarian organizations scrambling to deliver life-saving aid across a vast, hard-to-reach affected area.
The 7.4 magnitude quake, which struck Monday, shook a huge stretch of western Colombia, shaking densely populated urban hubs including Cali and Pereira and cutting through remote, mountainous terrain in the department of Chocó. As of Thursday evening, official government data put the confirmed death toll above 280, with thousands more injured and nearly 11,000 residential structures completely destroyed. Search-and-rescue teams have pulled almost 350 survivors from the rubble, but hundreds of people remain unaccounted for, leaving families waiting anxiously for news of their loved ones.
Colombian President Abelardo de la Espriella has pledged a large-scale, coordinated governmental response to the disaster. However, with urgent needs stretching across hundreds of miles of varied terrain, international and local aid organizations are set to play critical roles in delivering shelter, essential supplies, and long-term economic support to displaced and impacted families.
Unlike earthquake response efforts in Venezuela, where the interim government’s chaotic and under-resourced relief work faced widespread public criticism, Colombia’s more robust democratic and civic institutions are expected to streamline coordination between state and non-state actors. Even so, the far larger geographic scope of the Colombian disaster has created unique logistical barriers that challenge even well-established institutional frameworks.
“Institutional capacity does not remove the humanitarian need,” explained Catalina Vargas, country director for the global humanitarian organization CARE in Colombia. “The most severely affected area, Chocó, is also one of the most isolated and underserved parts of the country, so access remains the binding constraint regardless of the strength of national institutions.”
As relief efforts ramp up, disaster response leaders are urging donors to give cash rather than unsolicited physical goods, to give on-the-ground groups maximum flexibility to meet shifting needs. Abe Diaz, head of disaster relief at tech and retail giant Amazon, which is delivering pre-requested supplies to partner organizations on the ground, noted that unneeded donated goods create unnecessary burdens for overstretched response teams.
“Unrequested product donations overwhelm communities and force responders to divert resources from life-saving work just to sort and store unwanted supplies,” Diaz said.
To support potential donors, a wide range of vetted international and local organizations currently active in relief efforts have opened fundraising channels:
### U.S.-based organizations operating on the ground
– **All Hands and Hearts**: The group has already delivered critical search-and-rescue equipment including jackhammers and pickaxes to the Pereira fire department, alongside blankets and rehydration supplies for displaced families.
– **CARE**: With decades of established programming in Colombia, the group’s immediate response focuses on cash-based food assistance, emergency supply kits, and protection and emotional support for impacted households.
– **Direct Relief**: The global health-focused organization is funding local medical response teams and preparing to ship requested prescription medications and essential healthcare supplies to treatment facilities across the affected region.
– **GEM**: Working alongside local partner groups, GEM is distributing essential survival kits containing food, clean drinking water, and hygiene products.
– **Operation Blessing**: The faith-based organization’s initial relief work centers on delivering food, water, and solar lanterns to people displaced from their homes.
– **Save the Children**: With more than 40 years of work in Colombian communities, the group has already launched psychosocial support services and established multiple safe, child-friendly spaces in impacted areas.
– **World Central Kitchen**: The food security nonprofit is providing fresh meals and clean water to displaced people, first responders, and volunteers, including in isolated mountain communities that are hard for other groups to reach.
### High-profile benefit concert planned for earthquake relief
A host of Latin music’s biggest stars, including Marc Anthony, Luis Fonsi, Chayanne, Feid, and Jay Wheeler, will headline an international benefit concert for both Colombia and Venezuela earthquake relief on Sunday, August 16 at 6 p.m. EDT, hosted at Miami’s Kaseya Center. The concert will be broadcast live across multiple platforms, including Univision, ViX, WAPA, TelevisaUnivision radio stations, iHeartLatino, and Venevision Play for viewers in Venezuela. Viewers can donate during the broadcast by scanning an on-screen QR code, texting UNIDOS to 707070, or visiting the Univision.org website. All proceeds will go to five relief organizations: All Hands and Hearts, CARE, GEM, TECHO, and World Central Kitchen.
### Colombia-based organizations accepting international donations
– **Abaco Colombia**: An association of 26 food banks operating across the country, the group is distributing emergency food rations to impacted families across all affected regions, and accepts online donations.
– **Cruz Roja Colombiana (Colombian Red Cross)**: Local teams are leading search-and-rescue operations, providing emergency medical and psychosocial care, and meeting other critical needs, with online donation options available.
– **Fundación Solidaridad por Colombia**: This community-focused foundation supports youth programming, nutrition access, and community development, and is partnering with GEM to deliver relief supplies and food to displaced people in Pereira and surrounding areas. It accepts donations via PayPal.
– **Fundación Semillas de Oportunidades**: Based in Quibdó, the heart of impacted Chocó department, the foundation supports youth through art and sports programming, and is currently aiding affected families of young people across the region, accepting donations via PayPal.
– **Manos Visibles**: A network of organizations focused on advancing racial and territorial equity, the group is collaborating with a local trade school to restore at least 100 damaged homes in the port city of Buenaventura, with online donation options available.
– **Presentes Corporation**: A 43-year-old Colombian organization focused on building community resilience, the group is partnering with Miami-based nonprofit Give to Colombia to facilitate cross-border donations from U.S. supporters through its *Colombia Se Levanta (Colombia Rises)* fund, which accepts online donations.
– **Refugio Huellas de Amor (Pereira) and Huellitas Callejeras Barranquilla**: Both animal welfare organizations are supporting impacted and rescued animals in disaster zones, and accept donations via PayPal.
This reporting was contributed by Associated Press staff writer Megan Janetsky from Mexico City. AP’s coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits is supported through a collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP maintains sole editorial control over all content.