By CNN and Reuters – published by CNA
BOGOTA: At least 132 people have died, and 570 have been injured as a result of the magnitude 7.4 earthquake that struck earlier Monday (Aug. 10), according to the Colombian Association of Capital Cities, which earlier took part in an disaster response meeting with the president.
The city of Pereira has reported 60 deaths alone, the association said.
Five capital cities across the country are in a red alert, 86 buildings have collapsed and seven airports have suspended operations, the association added.
The powerful earthquake struck western Colombia struck just days after Abelardo De La Espriella was sworn in as president, thrusting the new administration into its first major crisis, with memories still fresh of devastating twin earthquakes in neighbouring Venezuela in June.
“The national government has all of its capabilities deployed to protect lives, assist affected communities and deliver aid wherever it is needed,” he said in a national address around 1 p.m, local time, upon declaring a national state of emergency.
“The first priority is rescuing the people trapped under the rubble.”
De La Espriella said preliminary reports indicated 111 dead and 87 injured, along with dozens of collapsed buildings and damaged homes.
The US Geological Survey said the 7.4 magnitude quake struck at a depth of 107km. Colombia’s geological service said it was the strongest earthquake recorded in the country in the 21st century.
Reports from Choco, near the epicenter, were slowed by communications outages, with some areas still lacking cellphone service hours after the earthquake. Governor Nubia Carolina Cordoba said 12 people had been killed and 84 injured in the largely rural area.
The heaviest casualties appeared concentrated in Risaralda, part of Colombia’s coffee-growing region. Pereira, the department’s capital, suffered extensive damage, with rescue workers continuing to search collapsed buildings for survivors.
Buildings crumble,airports closed
A four-storey building crumbled in Pereira during the quake, according to Reuters-verified video, while footage from Manizales showed one of the side towers of the city’s landmark neo-Gothic cathedral collapsing and scattering debris onto nearby streets.
Reuters footage showed rescue workers, police and volunteers shovelling debris by hand and loading rubble into trucks as they searched for survivors trapped beneath collapsed buildings. Other footage showed damage to residential towers and emergency-service facilities, with debris crashing onto ambulances parked below.
Mauricio Andrade, a firefighter in Cali, said his team had rescued two adult women and two children from a collapsed building. As he spoke to Reuters, his team was preparing to rescue more people from the rubble.
“They are alive,” he said. “We are making space so we can free them and get them out.”
Juan Carlos Osorio told Caracol Television that the collapse of one building “sounded like a bomb,” as he helped remove debris from a collapsed structure in Cali.
“All of us neighbours are working together, forming human chains. We need heavy equipment. There are many people trapped.”
Colombia’s civil aviation authority suspended operations at several airports in the country’s west, including Pereira, Manizales, Quibdo, Armenia, Cartago and Buenaventura, while engineers carried out structural inspections.
Ring of fire
Colombia sits along the seismically active Pacific Ring of Fire and records thousands of mostly minor earthquakes each month.
Northwestern University seismologist Suzan van der Lee said the quake’s powerful magnitude, inland location and strike-slip motion may have amplified damage in populated valleys despite its considerable depth.
“This one was far below the crust, and in theory it shouldn’t cause as much shaking. At this magnitude, it did actually cause a lot of shaking,” she said.
CAPTIONS:
Top: People look for survivors amid the rubble of a collapsed building after an earthquake in Cali, Colombia on Aug. 10, 2026. Photo: AFP/Joaquin Sarmiento and published by CNA
First insert: The damage sustained by the Manizales Cathedral are pictured after the earthquake in Manizales, Colombia, on Aug. 10, 2026. Photo: AFP/Andres Valencia and published by CNA
Second insert: A woman reacts as residents dig through the debris of collapsed buildings Cali, Colombia. Photo – Reuters/Christian EscobarMora and published by CNN
Front Page: Rescuers work at the site of a collapsed building in Cali, Colombia, on Monday, August 10. Photo – Reuters/ Sergio Acero and published by CNN
Watch video shared by Frank @rodriQuez on X.com – note the ground was shaking throughout this clip:
https://x.com/VickyDavilaH/status/2086805679063318896/video/1
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