As the clock ran out on the most critical window for rescuing people trapped after an earthquake, Colombia’s disaster relief chief promised the search would not stop until every missing person is accounted for.
The country’s most powerful quake this century ripped through western Colombia, ravaging the cities of Cali and Pereira and destroying nearly 13,000 homes across the coffee-growing region and along the coast.
The 7.4-magnitude tremor struck on Monday, killing 281 people and injuring almost 4,000, President Abelardo de la Espriella told reporters. Another 379 people were still listed as missing.
With survivors typically pulled from the debris within the first 72 hours after a quake, rescuers said expectations were fading even as the work continued.
David Tamayo, who heads Colombia’s disaster relief agency, conceded that the “likelihood of finding survivors is going to diminish”.
“But our commitment is to never stop searching… The order is to not rest until we find all the missing persons,” he said in a video posted by his agency late yesterday.
In Cali, residents who no longer have homes have crowded into makeshift camps set up in streets and parks, trying to shelter where they can as aftershocks and uncertainty linger.
Mayor Alejandro Eder said nine search-and-rescue efforts remained active, and urged people to keep quiet around those sites so teams could listen for any sign of life beneath the rubble.
Rescue workers ask for silence as they search for survivors
‘Lost my home’
De la Espriella has declared the disaster an “economic emergency” and ordered three days of national mourning.
“We will do what is necessary,” the newly appointed leader said, pledging to “emerge again as a country and as a society.”
In Pereira, 79-year-old psychologist Javier Alzate worked to clear tiles and heavy debris blocking entry to his damaged house, a task that underscored how quickly years of effort can vanish.
“It’s very distressing. Very sad. You work 40 or 50 years to buy a little house, struggling all that time to get it. I finally got it, and a few days later it’s gone,” he said. “I lost my home and my car.”
The impoverished Choco region on the Pacific coast was also hit hard, and officials said some remote communities there still had not been surveyed.
In neighbouring Valle del Cauca, Governor Dilian Francisca Toro said authorities were carrying out a census of damaged and destroyed properties to decide which buildings could remain occupied.
“We have to begin working because people simply cannot bear staying out on the streets any longer,” she said.
“People are telling us: ‘If you give us the materials, we’ll do the work ourselves,'” Ms Toro said, outlining plans that would lean on community-led rebuilding efforts.
A dog named Renata is carried after being rescued from underneath the rubble in Cali
The government has estimated the quake destroyed more than 12,500 homes
‘Not alone’
Across the country, Colombians have rushed to help: volunteers have delivered water, food and other supplies into affected neighbourhoods, and blood donation centres have seen long lines.
Quake victims “are not alone, that is a message we want to convey,” a volunteer coordinating donations in the capital, Bogota, told AFP.
“We are here giving what we can so that they at least have the most basic things,” she said.
In Cali, one musician turned to small gestures of comfort, offering hugs to anyone seeking emotional support.
“We are going through a collective trauma, and I think the best way I could help was by giving away the energy I have and the vitality I have left,” he told AFP.
Disaster authorities said Colombia was preparing to receive international urban search-and-rescue teams from the United States, El Salvador, Ecuador and Israel.
Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum said Colombia had refused entry to Mexican rescuers, citing a claim they lacked the correct certification.
De la Espriella’s administration has come under criticism for allegedly blocking rescue teams from countries with leftist leadership, an accusation it has denied.
Meanwhile, the World Bank said it had disbursed $200 million in emergency funding to support Colombia’s response to an earthquake that killed more than 280 people this week.
Alongside the funding, the World Bank said in a statement that it had launched a “Global Rapid Assessment of Damages from Earthquakes (GRADE) to provide the Government with an early assessment of economic loss to help it prioritize aid and reconstruction efforts”.
