Rescuers and volunteers in Colombia are clearing the rubble on Tuesday August 11 in a race against time to find survivors of the most powerful earthquake of the last decade, which has so far left 240 dead and hundreds injured, and destroyed or damaged nearly 1,600 buildings. Rescuers are searching for at least 3,000 people.
A previous report reported 111 dead and 87 injured in this 7.4 magnitude earthquake which occurred early Monday morning in the Choco department, a poor region on the edge of the Pacific.
It plunged the main cities in the west of the country into panic, with thousands of people in the streets, AFP journalists noted. “I ran out into the street, with nothing, there were hundreds of people” including some praying, testified Julian Peña, dentist from Quibdo, the capital of Choco (west).
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Cover image: A witness filmed the moment the earthquake of Monday August 10, 2026 hit Colombia. © @soy_gallego via Reuters
In Cali (southwest), one of the most affected cities, professional and improvised rescuers removed the rubble with their bare hands in search of signs of life.
Nelson Moreno came to save a friend trapped under two five-story towers. Her friend’s father and the young woman’s baby were found, injured but alive. “Now we need flashlights and glasses” because of the dust, to continue night operations, he said, surrounded by hundreds of volunteers.
These rescuers form human chains to evacuate the rubble from the building, with picks and rudimentary tools.
President Abelardo de la Espriella, in office for only three days, declared a state of emergency and pledged to carry out a coordinated rescue operation.
According to Asocapitales, 86 buildings collapsed and the activity of seven airports was suspended due to damage linked to the earthquake.
In Cali alone, there are 188 missing, said the president of La Espriella.
“We are carrying out all the necessary operations to get people out alive (…) Many people came, with equipment, with food, to help the firefighters, to help the people,” said Andrés Felipe Mejía, a volunteer rescuer in the city.
People search for survivors among the rubble of a collapsed building following an earthquake in Cali, Colombia, August 10, 2026. AFP – JOAQUIN SARMIENTO
47 replicas
So far, 47 aftershocks had been recorded by late afternoon, according to the Colombian geological service.
The epicenter was recorded near San José del Palmar, in Choco, a department which has 13 deaths so far.
Faced with the magnitude of the earthquake, messages of solidarity poured in from all over the world. Several Latin American countries, as well as Israel, Spain and France, have expressed their support.
The European Union announced that it had mobilized its Copernicus satellite service to facilitate relief operations.
The United States, allies of the new government, offered $15.5 million in aid to deal with the emergency. The singer Shakira, for her part, sent in a message on
Football has also been affected. The matches scheduled for this week were postponed after the earthquake, as were two matches in Colombia for the Libertadores and Sudamericana cups.
In the capital Bogota, residents, sometimes still in their pajamas, briefly evacuated their building Monday morning before returning to their homes, with no major damage having been reported.
The earthquake was felt as far away as Ecuador, Panama and Venezuela, itself hit on June 24 by a double earthquake of magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 that left more than 6,000 dead.
These countries are located on the Pacific Ring of Fire, an area of high seismic and volcanic activity due to the movements of tectonic plates, notably the Nazca plate and the Caribbean plate which dive under the South American plate.
With AFP, Reuters and AP
