admin At least 47 people were killed and dozens of buildings collapsed in cities across western Colombia on Monday after a powerful 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck the South American nation.
The quake trapped residents under debris, leaving more injured and forcing people to evacuate their homes as far as the capital of Bogotá. The epicenter was in San Jose Del Palmar, a community of about 4,800 people in the Choco region about 400 kilometres west of Bogota, the US Geological Survey and Colombia’s counterpart reported. The USGS said it struck at a depth of 107 kilometres.
The quake also was felt in neighboring Ecuador and Panama, though minimal damage was reported there. Local officials confirmed that at least 18 people had been killed in the city of Pereira, two in the city of Manizales, and 27 people in the Valle de Cauca department, where Colombia’s third-biggest city, Cali, is located.
The quake left cities across the west of the country – Pereira, Quibdo, Cali and Manizales – ravaged.
A mix of residents and search teams picked through the rubble of collapsed buildings amid concerns by authorities of aftershocks.
Colombia’s interior minister said more than 20 municipalities across the country had been hit.
The quake trapped residents under debris, leaving more injured and forcing people to evacuate their homes as far as the capital of Bogotá.
Emergency teams rushed to help victims and search for survivors in the rubble after geologists recorded the quake at a magnitude of 7.4 with an epicenter 100km deep in the west of the country.
The early-morning quake was also felt in Ecuador, Panama and Venezuela — itself hit by a devastating quake in late June — and prompted building evacuations in the Colombian capital Bogota, AFP reporters saw. News footage showed collapsed buildings across western Colombia, though officials said they did not fear a tsunami.
People look for survivors amid the rubble of a collapsed building after an earthquake in Cali. AFP
The epicenter was in San Jose Del Palmar, a community of about 4,800 people in the Choco region about 400 kilometres west of Bogota, the US Geological Survey and Colombia’s counterpart reported.
Women look at a damaged building after an earthquake in Cali, Colombia, on Monday. AFP
The USGS said it struck at a depth of 107 kilometres. The quake also was felt in neighbouring Ecuador.
Local officials confirmed that at least 18 people had been killed in the city of Pereira and two in the city of Manizales.
People remain at a park after evacuating their homes due to an earthquake in Cali, Colombia, on Monday. AFP
The quake left cities across the west of the country — Pereira, Quibdo, Cali and Manizales — ravaged, and residents picking through the rubble of collapsed buildings amid concerns by authorities of aftershocks.
Jorge Moncayo, a 64-year-old taxi driver in Colombia’s third-biggest city, Cali, said he saw plumes of dust shoot up across the city from his home in hills of the city as buildings collapsed.
People walk along a street after evacuating their homes due to an earthquake in Cali. AFP
Residents in the city and rescue workers were searching the rubble for survivors.
“My entire house shook,” he said. “I’ve never lived through such a powerful earthquake.”
Colombia’s Geological Service said that it had been “the highest magnitude earthquake registered in Colombia in the last decade” and that it had been followed by two 2.8 and 4.8 magnitude aftershocks.
Authorities also reported that flights were suspended in the airports of Manizales, Quibdo, Armenia, Cartago y Buenaventura and Pereira.
In Pereira, photos and videos published by local media showed pieces of the airport ceiling falling down on travelers taking shelter and screaming, and people running through rubble in a panic. 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.”
Agencies
