A powerful earthquake tore through western Colombia, killing at least 22 people and collapsing buildings in multiple cities as rescue crews raced to pull survivors from the rubble, local officials said.
Pereira recorded the highest death toll, with 18 people killed and others still trapped inside structures that crumbled during the tremor, Mayor Mauricio Salazar told Caracol Radio.
In Manizales, three people died, Mayor Jorge Eduardo Rojas said in an interview with Blu Radio.
Buenaventura, Colombia’s main Pacific port, reported one fatality after a building collapsed and left several people trapped, according to Mayor Ligia del Carmen Cordoba.
Medical teams were deployed to assist victims as damage reports mounted from cities where buildings were either severely damaged or brought down entirely.
Watch: Building collapse in Colombia after earthquake
Cali was among the hardest-hit urban areas, where at least 20 buildings collapsed and people were believed to be trapped inside, Mayor Alejandro Eder said.
To bolster the search-and-rescue response, the city requested additional teams from Bogota and Medellin, Eder added.
Provincial governors said the quake injured people and caused extensive damage across a province on Colombia’s Pacific Coast and in Pereira. The tremor was also felt in the capital, Bogota, and even as far as Venezuela.
“We have just experienced a major earthquake in the department of Choco.
“We are concerned about aftershocks. Although the epicentre was near San Jose del Palmar, there are injuries and significant damage to buildings in the capital, Quibdo.
People are pulled from a collapsed building after an earthquake in Cali, Colombia
“We are already carrying out a damage assessment and will issue the first official report shortly,” Choco Governor Nubia Carolina Cordoba-Curi said on X.
Risaralda province Governor Juan Diego Patino told local Blu Radio that Pereira, the provincial capital, suffered “serious damage to some buildings.”
“What has just occurred is very severe. The images are truly shocking, with people injured and building facades collapsed,” he said.
The US tsunami warning system said there was no tsunami warning.
Colombia’s geological service and the US Geological Survey (USGS) measured the quake at magnitude 7.4, and said it struck at a depth of 100km in the west of the country.
The epicenter was near San Jose del Palmar in Choco, a sparsely populated province on Colombia’s Pacific Coast. Cordoba-Curi said Quibdo, the provincial capital, had reported injuries and significant structural damage, and she urged residents to remain alert for aftershocks.
A map showing where the earthquake hit in Colombia
Six small airports in western Colombia suspended operations, the civil aeronautics agency said.
Colombia’s National Unit for Disaster Risk Management said it was in contact with local authorities to verify potential damage.
Bogota Mayor Carlos Galan said on X that the capital had not suffered major damage.
Reuters witnesses in Venezuela’s border state of Tachira and in the central-western city of Barquisimeto said the quake was felt there.
Venezuela was struck by devastating twin earthquakes in June that killed more than 6,000 people, mostly along the coast near the capital, Caracas.
