A powerful 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck western Colombia on Monday, killing at least 73 people and collapsing buildings across multiple cities, and rescue crews are still pulling survivors from the debris.
The quake hit near the small town of San José del Palmar in Colombia's Chocó region, roughly 250 miles west of the capital Bogotá, at 7:34 a.m. local time, according to the U.S. Geological Survey and Breitbart. The USGS recorded a 5.0-magnitude aftershock less than one hour later. San José del Palmar is a community of about 4,800 people, and the damage radiated outward for hundreds of miles, reaching cities with populations in the millions.
Colombia's Geological Service called it "the highest magnitude earthquake registered in Colombia in the last decade." The earthquake struck at a depth of 66 miles, the Washington Examiner reported, and tremors were felt across international borders in Panama, Venezuela, and Ecuador.
The death toll climbed throughout the day. AP News reported at least 73 confirmed dead across multiple regions: 40 in the Risaralda department, which includes the city of Pereira; 27 in Valle del Cauca, which includes Cali; four in Chocó province near the epicenter; and two in the Caldas department, home to Manizales. At least three of those killed in Valle del Cauca were children, Chocó Gov. Nubia Carolina Córdoba-Curi said on social media.
Cali, Colombia's third-largest city with a population of two million, took a severe hit. Mayor Alejandro Eder said residents were trapped inside at least 20 buildings that had collapsed. Jorge Moncayo, a 64-year-old taxi driver, told Agence France-Presse he watched plumes of dust shoot up across the city from his home.
Moncayo described the moment in blunt terms, as CBS News reported:
"My entire house shook. I've never lived through such a powerful earthquake."
In Pereira, pieces of an airport ceiling fell on travelers. Photos and videos circulated on social media showing the wreckage. Flights were suspended at four airports, Pereira, Manizales, Quibdó, and Armenia, as authorities assessed structural integrity.
Manizales suffered its own blow. Mayor Jorge Eduardo Rojas posted a video on social media showing the destruction: over a dozen buildings and more than 20 homes partially or totally destroyed. One tower of the city's neo-Gothic cathedral collapsed and fell onto the nave, a landmark loss on top of the human toll.
In Armenia, several residents were evacuated from their homes over fears of further structural failure. Even in Bogotá, 250 miles from the epicenter, office buildings emptied as workers rushed outside. Bogotá Mayor Carlos F. Galán said no structural damage was reported in the capital, but witnesses described the shaking as intense. Valeria Polo, a 29-year-old content creator in Bogotá, told AFP simply: "The quake was very, very strong."
Colombian President Abelardo de la Espriella moved quickly. He announced on social media that he had personally assumed leadership of the emergency response and ordered the establishment of a unified command post to coordinate relief efforts. He said he would travel to the quake zone.
The New York Post reported a direct quote from de la Espriella addressed to those affected: "You are not alone. The state is present and taking action."
Córdoba-Curi, the governor of Chocó, reported at least four deaths and 69 injuries in her province alone. She noted that although the epicenter was in San José del Palmar, the provincial capital of Quibdó also sustained injuries and severe building damage. Colombia's interior minister, whose name was not included in available reports, said more than 20 municipalities across the country had been affected.
Nine departments in total reported damage, with evacuations ordered in Bogotá, Cali, Medellín, Manizales, and several other cities. Search and rescue teams spent the day picking through rubble in the hardest-hit areas, and the full scope of the disaster remained unclear as night approached.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio posted on social media Monday that the Trump administration was closely monitoring the earthquake and "stands ready to support the people of Colombia." No specific aid packages or deployments had been announced at the time of publication.
The offer comes against a tense regional backdrop. Back-to-back 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude earthquakes struck neighboring Venezuela in late June, causing widespread damage and killing more than 5,000 people. South America's Pacific coast sits along the seismically active Ring of Fire, and Monday's disaster is a grim reminder that the region's infrastructure remains vulnerable to the forces beneath it.
Colombia has painful experience with earthquakes. In 1999, a major quake in the country's coffee-growing region killed more than 1,200 people. Monday's event has not yet reached that scale, but with residents still trapped in Cali and rescue operations ongoing in multiple cities, the final toll is far from settled.
When buildings fall on families and children are among the dead, the only question that matters is whether help arrives fast enough, and whether anyone in power cared enough to prepare.
