Colombia quake rescue teams race against time as aid operation grows
Rescuers in western Colombia continue searching collapsed buildings after a deadly 7.4-magnitude quake, as the national aid effort expands.
Rescue crews in western Colombia spent Sunday picking through the debris of collapsed buildings, nearly a week after a powerful earthquake devastated towns and cities across the region. The 7.4-magnitude tremor struck Monday near San Jose del Palmar, leaving a trail of destruction from the Pacific port of Buenaventura to the coffee belt and major urban centers like Cali and Pereira.
Official figures released late Saturday put the death toll at roughly 290, with 140 people still unaccounted for and close to 4,000 injured. More than two-thirds of the fatalities were reported in Cali and Pereira, where apartment blocks, churches, schools, and hospitals were badly damaged or flattened.
In Cali, Colombia's third-largest city, emergency teams continued working on unstable piles of concrete and twisted metal. With each passing day, the focus is shifting from rescue to recovery. Aftershocks have made the work more perilous, both for crews in damaged neighborhoods and for residents who remain displaced from their homes.
As hopes of finding more survivors fade, the relief operation is scaling up. In Bogota, a stadium has been converted into the country's largest donation collection center. Volunteers are working around the clock to sort and dispatch food, clothing, medicine, and other essentials. The coordinating organization Sencia said more than 7,000 volunteers have helped send out 700 tons of aid over five days.
In Pereira, authorities are also extending emergency care to injured pets and distributing donated animal food, a sign of the broader strain on families whose livelihoods and homes have been upended.
The earthquake is the first major test for President Abelardo De La Espriella, who took office just days before the disaster. On Sunday, he announced that billionaire banker Jaime Gilinski, who also controls food company Nutresa, would donate 150 billion Colombian pesos (about $47.75 million) to rebuild hospitals and schools in his hometown of Cali.