Overview
- A 7.4-magnitude quake with epicenter in San José del Palmar hit on Monday, producing dozens of collapses and thousands of damaged homes with official reports citing about 1,136 houses destroyed, 48 buildings collapsed and 8,357 damaged.
- The national government declared a state of disaster and deployed Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) teams, organized medical evacuations to larger hospitals and announced temporary rent subsidies for displaced families.
- Casualty figures remain provisional and uneven: President Abelardo de la Espriella confirmed 132 deaths while some local tallies and regional reports put the toll substantially higher and the number of injured at hundreds to more than a thousand.
- International and civil-society assistance is arriving, including a U.S. pledge of $15.5 million for shelters, food and assessments, World Central Kitchen operations and diaspora collection points, and sporting schedules have been disrupted with at least one CONMEBOL match suspended.
- Search-and-rescue work is ongoing during the critical first 72 hours, teams are still looking for missing people including a Deportivo Pereira player, some foreign nationals previously reported missing have been found safe and reconstruction will be complicated by many buildings predating modern seismic rules and widespread informal housing.