Rescue crews continue combing through collapsed buildings across western Colombia after a powerful magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck the region on Monday, August 10, with officials confirming the death toll has risen to at least 164 people. Authorities said more than 880 people have sustained injuries, while over 3,200 remain unaccounted for as soldiers, emergency responders and local volunteers work through debris from dozens of collapsed structures. Thousands of residents have been forced from their homes since the quake struck, adding to the scale of the humanitarian response now underway. The earthquake flattened multi story buildings in cities including Pereira and Cali, and severely damaged one of the towers of a historic cathedral in Manizales. The tremor originated at an intermediate depth with its epicenter located near San José del Palmar in the western department of Chocó, causing widespread destruction across Pereira, Cali, Manizales and other communities in Colombia’s coffee growing region. Residential buildings, hospitals, schools and key infrastructure, including several regional airports, all suffered severe damage in the quake. At one city hospital, several upper floors, including sections dedicated to pediatric care, collapsed inward, trapping some patients inside and forcing hospital staff to treat roughly 600 additional patients outdoors on a street littered with debris, according to hospital director Irne Torres Castro, who spoke to a Colombian television network. That same city saw some of the earthquake’s most extensive destruction, with entire residential blocks reduced to piles of concrete and twisted metal. Video circulating online captured buildings shaking violently as residents fled into the streets, while separate footage showed a regional airport swaying dramatically during the quake as large sections of ceiling came down around people sheltering inside. Among the most widely shared images online is footage showing the Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary shaking and partially collapsing. The cathedral, built in the 1920s, holds the distinction of being Colombia’s tallest cathedral and ranks among the highest neo Gothic churches anywhere in the Americas. The disaster struck just days after Abelardo De La Espriella was sworn in as Colombia’s president, immediately confronting his new administration with a major crisis. The earthquake also comes with memories still fresh of a pair of devastating earthquakes that struck neighboring Venezuela in June. Colombia’s national government has declared a state of emergency and mobilized the military, police and specialized rescue units to lead recovery operations, while accepting offers of international assistance as the search for survivors continues. The disaster adds to a string of major seismic events across the region in recent months, underscoring the ongoing vulnerability of Andean nations to powerful earthquakes and the strain such disasters place on emergency infrastructure even in areas with established disaster response systems.
