A magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck western Colombia at 7:34 a.m. local time on Monday, killing at least 111 people and injuring at least 87, according to President Abelardo de la Espriella and the Associated Press. Rescue teams and residents searched collapsed buildings while authorities warned that the toll could rise as assessments reached isolated communities.
The Colombian Geological Service located the epicenter near San José del Palmar in the Chocó department and reported a depth of 96 kilometers. The U.S. Geological Survey also measured magnitude 7.4. Shaking reached major western cities including Cali, Pereira, Manizales, Quibdó and Armenia, and people felt it in neighboring Ecuador and Panama, where initial damage reports were limited.
Government figures cited by El País counted 1,575 affected homes and 61 collapsed buildings. AP reported damage to hundreds of structures, people trapped beneath debris and impacts in more than 20 municipalities. Officials suspended flights at airports serving Manizales, Quibdó, Armenia, Cartago, Buenaventura and Pereira as inspections and emergency operations continued.
De la Espriella declared a national disaster to accelerate the movement of recovery funds and convened a unified command structure. He said the government would support affected residents and planned to travel to the disaster zone. Communications problems and the rural, forested terrain around the epicenter complicated efforts to determine the full scale of casualties and damage.
The geological service described the event as Colombia's highest-magnitude earthquake in a decade and recorded aftershocks, including a magnitude 4.8 tremor. It linked the activity to natural tectonic processes in western Colombia, including the Nazca plate moving beneath the South American plate. El País reported that the quake was Colombia's deadliest since the 1999 Armenia disaster.
Search-and-rescue work remained the immediate priority as families waited for news of missing relatives. Authorities continued checking hospitals, transport links and damaged buildings while monitoring further aftershocks. The confirmed figures remained provisional, particularly because much of Chocó is poor, mountainous and difficult to reach except by boat or aircraft.
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