A powerful 7.4 magnitude earthquake hit western Colombia, killing at least 73 people, trapping residents under the debris of collapsed buildings and forcing evacuations as far as the capital Bogota
A huge 7.4 magnitude earthquake hit western Colombia on Monday morning, killing at least 73 lives.
Locals were left trapped underneath the rubble of collapsed buildings, prompting evacuations as far away as the capital, Bogotá. The earthquake epicentre was located in San Jose Del Palmar; a village with 4,800 inhabitants in the Choco region, about 250 miles west of Bogota, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS) and Colombia’s equivalent agency. The earthquake stuck at a depth of 66 miles.
The devastating earthquake was also felt in neighbouring Ecuador and Panama, though minimal damage was recorded there.
Local authorities confirmed that at least 40 people were killed in the Risaralda region, where the severely affected city of Pereira is situated. There were also 27 deaths in the Valle del Cauca region, home to Colombia’s third-largest city, Cali. At least three of those who died in Valle del Cauca were children, the governor confirmed.
Officials also confirmed four deaths in Choco, and two additional deaths in the city of Manizales within the Caldas region. Numerous others across Colombia sustained injuries.
The earthquake left cities throughout the country’s west devastated, including in Pereira, Quibdo, Cali, and Manizales. Residents and rescue teams sifted through the wreckage of collapsed buildings while authorities cautioned about aftershocks.
Colombia’s interior minister said that more than 20 municipalities nationwide had been affected. Colombia’s Pacific region, near the quake’s epicentre, sits along the “Ring of Fire” — the chain of seismic fault lines surrounding the Pacific Ocean where the vast majority of the world’s earthquakes take place.
Jorge Moncayo, a 64-year-old taxi driver from Cali, described witnessing clouds of dust rising across the city as buildings crumbled. Locals and rescue teams were sifting through the wreckage in search of survivors.
“My entire house shook. I’ve never lived through such a powerful earthquake,” he said. “We’re thanking God we’re alive.”
Colombia’s Geological Service confirmed on Monday that it had been “the highest magnitude earthquake registered in Colombia in the last decade”, adding that it had been followed by two aftershocks measuring 2.8 and 4.8 in magnitude. Authorities also announced that flights had been suspended at airports in Manizales, Quibdo, Armenia, Cartago, Buenaventura, and Pereira.
The quakes left many across Colombia deeply shaken, coming straight after two successive earthquakes that had devastated neighbouring Venezuela in late June, destroying hundreds of buildings and claiming more than 5,000 lives. As buildings were brought down in Colombia, grief-stricken families in Venezuela were still desperately combing through the ruins in search of their loved ones’ remains.
In Pereira, images and footage released by local media captured chunks of airport ceiling crashing down on terrified travellers, with people fleeing through the debris in a state of panic. Pereira’s mayor, Mauricio Salazar, informed a local radio station that at least 18 people had died and numerous others remained trapped beneath “a massive quantity of collapsed buildings”.
In the nearby city of Manizales, in Colombia’s coffee-growing mountains, one of the towers of the neo-Gothic cathedral crumbled and crashed onto the nave. Manizales’ mayor Jorge Eduardo Rojas urged residents to remain outdoors in anticipation of aftershocks.
Officials in the rural state of Choco, where the quake’s epicentre was located, confirmed dozens were injured, and that damaged there were buildings in the capital, though they offered limited details. In Cali, home to two million locals, Mayor Alejandro Eder said residents were trapped in at least 19 buildings which had collapsed.
Minor earthquakes are relatively common in central and western Colombia, though those exceeding 6.0 magnitude are rare. In 1999, a 6.2 magnitude quake near the city of Armenia killed more than 1,100 lives.
Colombia’s recently inaugurated President Abelardo de la Espriella announced on Monday he had personally assumed control of the government’s emergency response in San José del Palmar following the earthquake.
“You are not alone. The state is present and taking action,” he stated.
The earthquake response marks the first significant test for de la Espriella, a Trump ally who took the presidential oath over the weekend. Messages of solidarity poured in from leaders throughout the Americas, including Mexico, Brazil, Ecuador, El Salvador and the United States.
“The Trump administration is closely monitoring the large earthquake that struck Colombia and stands ready to support the people of Colombia” and de la Espriella, wrote Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a post on X.
Several countries pledged assistance, and the UN deputy spokesman, Farhan Haq, said “we stand ready to help as needed.”
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