Colombia earthquake death toll climbs past 265 as rescuers race to find survivors
Regional aid began pouring into Colombia on Wednesday as rescue workers pushed through piles of debris in a desperate search for survivors, three days after a powerful earthquake killed at least 265 people, razed buildings, buckled roads and crushed cars across the country's west.
The 7.4-magnitude temblor has become an early test for President Abelardo de la Espriella, whose government is racing to coordinate relief even as local communities and volunteer networks organize their own response. De la Espriella said Wednesday evening that nearly 500 people were still missing, though civilian-run databases put the number above 4,100. He said more than 25,800 families had been affected.
"Our efforts are focused on the disappeared," he told reporters in the capital.
In the hardest-hit cities of Cali, Pereira, Manizales and Quibdó, search teams continued to comb through the rubble as hope of finding victims alive began to fade. Aid agencies generally consider the first 48 to 72 hours critical for rescuing survivors, though that window can stretch if people trapped have access to food and water.
Cali's mayor, Alejandro Eder, said Wednesday afternoon that crews were still detecting signs of life under collapsed structures. "The next 20 hours are the most critical to find and rescue people alive," he said. "Every minute is vital."
In Cali, social media videos captured a baby being pulled from the rubble of a collapsed building on Monday. In one clip, a survivor can be heard telling rescuers, "I'm with a baby," as the infant cries.
A dramatic rescue in Pereira offered a rare moment of celebration. Daniela Largo, 32, was freed from the debris late Tuesday after a 12-hour operation in which rescuers carved a narrow opening to release her pinned arm and a doctor gave her fluids through an IV. Wrapped in a blue blanket, she was carried to an ambulance as firefighters hugged and onlookers cheered.
Craig De Meillon, a search-and-rescue volunteer from Miami, was part of the operation. "It was kind of like a football moment, when everyone is like shaking hands, like, 'Yes, yes!'" he told CBS News.
Elsewhere in the same city, the mood was grim as crews pulled a man from a building, lifeless and covered in a white blanket.
Rescue efforts in bustling neighborhoods require bouts of near-total silence. In Pereira, volunteers formed human bucket brigades and passed debris by hand for hours. At one point, a Colombian army unit using specialized equipment and sniffer dogs picked up signs of life, and hundreds of people erupted in cheers.
The quake has upended communities across Colombia's coffee-growing region. Officials converted sports arenas, schools and other public buildings into shelters for thousands of displaced families. In Pereira and Cali, people slept in parks, some wary of aftershocks, others left homeless. Colombia's geological service has recorded at least 130 aftershocks since Monday.
"We have the most important things: a roof over our heads, food, water and, in my case, medical care," said Edith Penagos, 48, who was staying in a tent in a Pereira park with her teenage son.
Rodrigo León Loya, a seismologist and geosciences professor at the University of the Andes, said the chance of another earthquake of similar magnitude in the same area is low, but Colombia's seismic faults make the broader threat constant. "The question isn't whether it can happen again. The question is rather when an earthquake of similar magnitude will occur at another of Colombia's seismic sources," he said.
The disaster has also exposed the country's deep inequalities. In Chocó, the jungled northwestern region where the quake was centered, the official response has been complicated by entrenched poverty, armed conflict and decades of displacement. Cell service has been lost, and many affected communities are reachable only by river, leaving the full scale of destruction unclear.
"This earthquake compounds an already severe humanitarian situation, and there is a need for increased support for the humanitarian response," said Giovanni Rizzo, Colombia director for the Norwegian Refugee Council.
Aid organizations were already stationed in Chocó to support Colombia's 2016 peace accord with leftist rebels and respond to violence by armed groups that has persisted since then. That presence has allowed humanitarian workers to shift quickly to disaster relief, said María José Torres, the U.N. resident coordinator in Colombia.
"We have a presence on the ground. Therefore, our ability to be there, present with the people, I think, has increased exponentially," Torres said Tuesday.
International support has been quick to assemble. The U.S. State Department said disaster response teams began arriving Monday, and Washington committed more than $15 million in aid. Mexico sent two military aircraft carrying 19.5 tons of nonperishable food and 19 security personnel to Pereira, with another 39 tons expected in the coming days. Mexico has also kept 255 military specialists and 20 dogs on standby. El Salvador's president, Nayib Bukele, offered two planes loaded with 100 tons of aid.
Pope Leo XIV offered prayers for the victims and thanked those involved in recovery efforts. "I want to express my solidarity with my Colombian sisters and brothers who have suffered the effects of the recent earthquake," he said Wednesday.
On Aug. 16, Marc Anthony, Luis Fonsi, Chayanne, Feid, Jay Wheeler and others will headline a benefit concert in Miami for victims of the Colombia quake and the earthquakes that struck Venezuela in June, which killed thousands of people.
The relief effort is likely to become a longer test for de la Espriella's administration, which must now balance emergency response with reconstruction in areas already struggling with entrenched poverty, displacement and limited infrastructure before the ground began to shake.