Rescue crews dug through mountains of shattered concrete in western Colombia on Tuesday (August 11, 2026), racing to find survivors after a powerful earthquake killed more than 200 people, according to estimates from local authorities.
Political Context
The U.N. humanitarian office OCHA, citing official figures as of Monday (August 10) night, said 126 people had been confirmed dead and 1,495 injured. But local estimates on Tuesday put the toll around 224, pointing to a disaster still unfolding as crews reached damaged neighborhoods and communications slowly came back online. Almost 5,000 homes were damaged, while dozens of buildings collapsed and hundreds of residences were destroyed, OCHA said. It’s very painful,” said Fernanda Gaviria, 33, speaking from a grocery shop opposite a collapsed building. The United States said it had allocated $15.5 million for emergency shelter, food, protection and damage assessments, while the Inter-American Development Bank said it had made $50 million immediately available for reconstruction support if requested by the government. At least 132 people have been killed, and more than 570 others were injured after a powerful 7.4-magnitude earthquake hit Colombia on Monday (local time), President Abelardo de la Espriella said, according to CNN. The president said that 1,577 residential buildings were damaged and 37 others were completely destroyed. The New York Times reported that the president also noted the collapse of more than 60 buildings, as well as damage to 18 health centres and 52 schools. Earlier that day, the US Geological Survey (USGS) recorded the earthquake at approximately 7:34 am local time. Its epicentre was near San José del Palmar in Colombia’s Chocó region, roughly 280 kilometres west of Bogotá, at a depth of 107 kilometres, according to CNN.
Nubia Carolina Córdoba Curi, the governor of Colombia’s northwestern Chocó department, confirmed that the regional capital, Quibdó, has suffered injuries and extensive building damage, while also voicing concern over the possibility of aftershocks, according to CNN.
“We are focused on the immediate task of saving lives, guaranteeing the arrival of rescue teams, bringing in medical supplies and field hospitals,” Interior Minister Rodrigo Lara told Blu Radio. Gaviria said she spent the night sleeping in a park after her own apartment building was badly damaged. With communications still patchy in some of the worst-hit areas, officials said the full extent of the damage and the final death toll could take days to establish. Risaralda Governor Juan Diego Patiño told the radio station BluRadio that the department of Risaralda, located in western-central Colombia, has been the hardest-hit area, according to CNN. In a statement, President de la Espriella announced that he had called an emergency committee to deal with the damage and vowed that the government “will do whatever is necessary” to safeguard those affected. He further said he would personally take the lead in guiding the country through the quake’s aftermath.
“They’ve already pulled several people out, some alive and some dead. International assistance was beginning to arrive. I still can’t believe it — yesterday at this same time I said hello to them, and today they’re gone.
