Colombia earthquake death toll tops 200 as rescuers race to find survivors
A powerful 7.4-magnitude earthquake has struck Colombia, resulting in over 200 deaths and widespread destruction of infrastructure. Rescue teams are currently working through rubble in affected cities like Cali and Pereira to locate survivors.
Why it matters
This is a major humanitarian disaster requiring significant international aid and emergency response efforts in South America.
Rescue crews dug through mountains of shattered concrete in western Colombia on Tuesday (August 11, 2026), racing to find survivors after a powerful earthquake killed more than 200 people, according to estimates from local authorities.
Families waited beside the rubble for signs of life. The 7.4-magnitude earthquake, the most powerful to strike the South American country in decades, tore through Colombia’s coffee-growing heartland early on Monday, leaving apartment blocks, homes, schools and health centers cracked, leaning or flattened.
In the hardest-hit cities, rescuers worked through the night with cranes, excavators and, at times, their bare hands, cutting through twisted steel and passing buckets of debris in desperate searches for those still trapped.
“We are focused on the immediate task of saving lives, guaranteeing the arrival of rescue teams, bringing in medical supplies and field hospitals,” Interior Minister Rodrigo Lara told Blu Radio.
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