A powerful magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck western Colombia on August 10, killing at least 265 people and leaving hundreds still buried under collapsed buildings as rescue teams race against a critical 72-hour survival window.
President Abelardo de la Espriella confirmed the death toll on Wednesday, reporting that 3,500 people have been injured and nearly 500 remain missing. The quake, centered near the city of Cali, caused widespread destruction across Colombia’s western departments, including Valle del Cauca, Cauca, and Quindio.
Rescuers from across Latin America have converged on the disaster zone, using excavators, search dogs, and bare hands to dig through mountains of rubble. In Cali’s hardest-hit neighborhoods, buildings collapsed into pancakes of concrete and twisted rebar, trapping residents in stairwells and under floors.
Officials declared the rescue operation had entered its final phase on Wednesday, as the window for finding survivors alive narrows. Emergency workers have been calling for silence at collapse sites so they can listen for voices trapped beneath debris.
The earthquake struck during the late afternoon when many commercial buildings and residential towers were occupied, contributing to the high casualty figure. At least 12,000 people have been displaced across the affected region, according to Colombia’s disaster relief agency.
International aid has poured in, with teams from Mexico, Chile, Ecuador, and Peru joining local emergency responders. The United States and European Union have pledged financial support for reconstruction efforts.
The disaster struck just days after President de la Espriella was inaugurated, thrusting the new administration into its first major crisis. The president suspended his transition activities to manage the emergency response from a field command center in Cali.
Colombia sits along the Pacific Ring of Fire, where the Nazca and South American tectonic plates converge, making it one of the most seismically active regions in South America. The last major earthquake to hit western Colombia was a 6.3 magnitude event in 2023 that killed several people.
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