After deadly Colombia quake, rescuers comb rubble as aid effort expands

By Luis Jaime Acosta

BOGOTA, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Rescue crews picked through the wreckage of collapsed buildings in western Colombia on Sunday, nearly a week after a 7.4-magnitude earthquake devastated towns and cities across the region and left hundreds dead or missing.

The quake struck Monday morning near San Jose del Palmar, shaking a broad area from the Pacific port of Buenaventura to the coffee-growing belt and major cities including Cali and Pereira. Official figures released Sunday put the death toll at around 290, with more than 140 people still missing and 4,200 injured. More than two-thirds of the deaths were concentrated in Cali and Pereira, where apartment blocks, homes, churches, schools and hospitals were damaged or destroyed.

In Cali, Colombia's third-largest city, emergency workers continued searching unstable piles of concrete and twisted metal on Sunday as rescue efforts increasingly gave way to the recovery of bodies. "Unfortunately, there are no signs of life," said Cali fire department Captain Alberto Hernandez. "Miracles can happen, but honestly - as a believer and based on what we have seen - there is no indication that anyone is still alive."

Aftershocks have added to the danger for crews working in damaged neighborhoods and for residents still unable to return home. "Work has to be done very carefully and methodically... so we do not put rescuers or community members helping at the site at further risk," Hernandez added.

As hopes of finding more survivors dimmed, the relief operation was expanding. In Bogota, a stadium has been turned into the country's biggest donation collection center, while in Pereira authorities were treating injured pets and distributing donated animal food.

"Horrible, it's overwhelming," said Claudia Galeano, 53, who lost her home in Pereira. Her father, Arnulfo Galeano, was pulled alive from the rubble but later died in hospital. "The earthquake took my father from me, but there are people worse off than me, left on the street, without family, without anything."

The quake is the first major crisis facing President Abelardo De La Espriella, who took office just days before the disaster and now faces the task of overseeing relief and reconstruction. On Sunday, De La Espriella said Colombian billionaire banker Jaime Gilinski, who also controls food company Nutresa, would donate 150 billion pesos ($47.75 million) to rebuild hospitals and schools in Gilinski's hometown of Cali. The Santo Domingo family, which controls a vast media empire in the nation, had already pledged $32 million on Friday.

Colombia sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire and has a long history of seismic activity, but the damage to densely populated urban centers is likely to stretch public budgets and test the new administration. The coffee-growing region, a key source of export revenue, could face longer-term disruption from damaged roads and processing facilities, although authorities have not yet issued an economic assessment. Reconstruction in Cali and Pereira is expected to take years, with many residents still sleeping outdoors or in shelters.

($1 = 3,141.5000 Colombian pesos)