A massive and deep earthquake in Colombia destroyed buildings and killed at least 132 people, leaving emergency teams rushing to find trapped survivors.
A terrible disaster hit the South American country of Colombia on Monday morning. At exactly 7:34 a.m. local time, the ground began to shake violently during one of the largest and strongest earthquakes the nation has experienced in many years. The powerful shock killed at least 132 people, injured more than 480 others, and caused large buildings to completely crumble to the ground. Because many families are still believed to be trapped underneath heavy broken concrete and metal, rescue workers fear the number of deaths will sadly continue to go up.
The exact center of this massive earthquake, which measured a very high 7.4 in strength, was located near a small western village called San José del Palmar in the Chocó province. Even though the shaking started right under them, the village mayor shared some surprising good news. Reporting on his town’s condition, local Mayor León Fabio Marín Moncada stated that “no one in the town died or was hurt,” though he noted that the main roads going in and out of the area were badly broken and cracked.
Instead, the absolute worst destruction happened about 34 miles away in a busy city named Pereira, located in Colombia’s famous coffee-growing region. Local government officials reported that 65 different buildings collapsed in that city’s metropolitan area alone. Scary videos from the city’s main public square, Plaza Bolívar, showed a building completely falling apart and sending huge, thick clouds of dust over crowds of people who had gathered outside. Because of the extreme danger of falling debris, the government ordered everyone to stay off the streets at night so emergency teams could safely dig through the heavy rubbish to find missing people.
The shaking was so intense that it traveled for hundreds of miles across the map. People felt the ground move far away in the capital city of Bogota, and the shaking even crossed the borders into nearby countries like Venezuela, Ecuador, and Panama. In another big Colombian city called Cali, the damage was also devastating. Describing the frightening situation in his area, the mayor of Cali, Alejandro Eder, warned that “buildings collapsed and trapped an unknown number of people,” including inside local hospital wards.
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The sudden and violent shaking woke people up in complete panic across nearby towns. Local journalist Luis Felipe Molina was in the city of Manizales when his building began to shake violently, later telling reporters that “it was a terrible and terrifying experience” as walls cracked around him. A 29-year-old tourist from London named Dan Cutler was sleeping in a hotel in Cali when the walls started to tremble. Describing the frightening moment to news reporters, Dan Cutler said, “I’ve never experienced anything like it. We sprinted outside in our pyjamas. There’s no major structural damage to the hotel, but there are surface cracks in the walls, and paint and plaster have peeled off”.
Experts from the Colombian Geological Service explained that the quake caused so much widespread damage because it happened very deep inside the earth, about 64 miles underground. When an earthquake is that deep, the shockwaves travel much further across the land instead of just staying in one single spot. To help the country deal with this sudden tragedy, Colombia’s President Abelardo de la Espriella officially declared a national disaster, confirming that “more than 1,500 homes have been damaged” and stating that “we activated rescue teams” to help save trapped families. Right now, firefighters, doctors, and brave volunteers are working day and night to pull survivors from the rubble.
