At least 111 people were killed when a powerful earthquake struck western Colombia on Monday, tearing through homes and buildings, trapping people under debris and forcing evacuations across the region. The quake shook neighboring Ecuador and Panama too, but the human cost landed hardest on ordinary people in Colombia, where officials said at least 87 others were injured and whole cities were left picking through collapse.
Who Pays When the Ground Breaks
Colombia’s President Abelardo de la Espriella declared an emergency to speed funding for recovery and said he would visit the disaster zone. He told the public, “We aren’t going to leave people alone. They are in our hearts and we are going to tend to people with our full determination.” In a separate account, he said, “You are not alone. The state is present and taking action.” Those are the words of the apparatus after the damage is done. The quake had already left many people trapped under debris, and local officials were still counting the dead and injured while the state promised presence.
The Associated Press reported the quake at magnitude 7.4, while Reuters, citing the European Mediterranean Seismological Centre, reported magnitude 6.8. The Associated Press said the U.S. Geological Survey and Colombia’s counterpart both reported a 7.4 magnitude quake, while Reuters reported the EMSC figure. The numbers differ, but the wreckage didn’t.
The epicenter was in San Jose Del Palmar, a community of about 4,800 people in the Choco region about 250 miles (400 kilometers) west of Bogota, the U.S. Geological Survey said. The quake ravaged cities across western Colombia, including Pereira, Quibdo, Cali and Manizales. Colombia’s interior minister said more than 20 municipalities across the country had been hit.
Collapsed Buildings, Trapped Families
Local officials said at least 40 people were killed in the Risaralda region, where Pereira is located, and 27 people in the Valle del Cauca region, where Cali is located. At least three of those killed in Valle del Cauca were children, the governor said. Authorities also confirmed nine people were killed in Choco, two more in the Caldas region and a 73-year-old in the Antioquia region. Pereira’s mayor, Mauricio Salazar, told a local radio station that at least 18 people had died and that many more were trapped under “a massive quantity of collapsed buildings.” In Cali, Mayor Alejandro Eder said residents were trapped in at least 19 collapsed buildings.
Jorge Moncayo, a 64-year-old taxi driver in Cali, described the collapse from street level. He said he saw plumes of dust shoot up across the city as buildings fell. “My entire house shook. I’ve never lived through such a powerful earthquake,” he said, adding, “We’re thanking God we’re alive.” That’s the voice from below: fear, survival, and the thin line between a standing wall and a pile of rubble.
In Manizales, one of the towers of the neo-Gothic cathedral collapsed and fell on the nave, and Jorge Eduardo Rojas, the mayor of Manizales, asked residents to stay outside in case of aftershocks. Authorities in the rural state of Choco, the epicenter of the quake, reported injured people and damaged buildings in the capital, but gave few details.
Order, Markets, and the Aftermath
Colombia’s Geological Service said Monday that it had been “the highest magnitude earthquake registered in Colombia in the last decade” and that it had been followed by two aftershocks of magnitude 2.8 and 4.8. Authorities also reported that flights were suspended at the airports of Manizales, Quibdo, Armenia, Cartago, Buenaventura and Pereira. The machinery of transport and commerce stopped where the ground had already done the first round of destruction.
The earthquakes left many in the Andean nation unnerved after two back-to-back quakes devastated neighboring Venezuela in late June, destroyed hundreds of buildings and killed more than 5,000 people. At the same time the quake brought down buildings in Colombia, desperate families in Venezuela continued to search the ruins for the bodies of their loved ones. The suffering crossed borders; the institutions didn’t stop it.
Messages of support came from leaders across the Americas, including Mexico, Brazil, Ecuador, El Salvador and the United States. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote on X, “The Trump administration is closely monitoring the large earthquake that struck Colombia and stands ready to support the people of Colombia.” A number of countries offered aid, and the U.N. deputy spokesman, Farhan Haq, said, “we stand ready to help as needed.” Reuters also reported that Colombian stocks slipped and Latin American assets were muted in the aftermath of the quake. Even in catastrophe, the market keeps score.