Full story
72-hour race for survivors
A 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck western Colombia on Monday at 07:34 local time, collapsing buildings across major cities and killing 265 people while leaving nearly 500 people unaccounted for, as Colombia’s President Abelardo De La Espriella said in a national address.
“killed 265 and left nearly 500 people unaccounted for”
In Cali, Mayor Alejandro Eder warned that rescue workers were racing against time as the clock runs out on a critical 72-hour window, with officials estimating the quake injured 3,770 people and destroyed more than 9,550 homes.
Reuters reported that rescue efforts in Cali were concentrated around seven buildings that might still hold survivors, including the Torres del Limonar complex where residents formed long bucket brigades with soldiers and employees of the mayor’s office.
Camilo Cano, a fire department official from Bogota, told Reuters that rescue efforts became more organized after police began restricting volunteers, which helped reduce noise and vibrations and allowed sensors to better detect movement under the debris.
In Palmira, relatives of the deceased waited outside a morgue on plastic chairs under the shade of trees as an official called out names of identified bodies via a loud speaker.
Death tolls diverge
As rescue teams continued to search for survivors in Cali and Pereira, different tallies emerged across outlets, with ABC News citing at least 224 dead based on Colombia’s Public Ministry and Reuters earlier reporting 265 killed.
ABC News said the earthquake’s epicenter was 5 kilometers, or about 3 miles, east of San José del Palmar, Colombia, and reported that Alejandro Eder said 95 perished in Cali and that at least 86 people had been rescued in Cali so far.
In Cali, The New York Times described rescuers shouting names and digging through rubble, quoting a rescuer as saying, “We heard them screaming,” as the crowd chanted “Diana! Diana!”
The New York Times reported that Diana Marcela Troncoso, a 31-year-old biomedical engineer, was pulled from the rubble after being trapped for almost 30 hours and was alive as firefighters strapped her to a backboard.
Meanwhile, Al Jazeera reported that the quake caused at least 254 deaths nationwide, with most concentrated in Pereira and Cali, and described volunteers using hammers, shovels and heavy machinery at the Vanessa Building where rescuers said an estimated 20 people were trapped.
Aid, mourning, and aftershocks
Colombia declared a national disaster and moved into a phase of emergency response and mourning, with the government ordering flags to fly at half-mast on official buildings and in embassies abroad and declaring three days of national mourning on Wednesday.
“The national flag will be flown at half-mast on public buildings”
The New York Times reported that the death toll had risen to at least 181 people with at least 1,310 people injured and 153 buildings collapsed, while officials said communication was down in some affected areas and they expected the numbers to rise.
In Pereira, the search for survivors continued after Daniela Largo, 32, was extracted from a collapsed building after 35 hours trapped, and her mother, Sandra Milena Perez, told AFP, “We were losing hope when we received a call.”
The Washington Post described a hospital rescue effort at Del Valle University Hospital in Cali, where Héctor Jaramillo, 56, was recovering from a tracheostomy when a six-story wing collapsed, and five people, including a child, were rescued alive while there was no sign of Jaramillo as of Tuesday evening.
Beyond the immediate search, the sources tied the next steps to aid and logistics, including the U.S. State Department’s Disaster Assistance Response Team scheduled to arrive and the Trump administration committing $15.5 million for emergency shelter, food, protection, and earthquake assessments.
