Desperate rescue efforts continue in Colombia as earthquake death toll passes 200
A 7.4-magnitude earthquake in Colombia has resulted in at least 250 deaths and thousands of injuries, with rescue efforts ongoing in the coffee-growing heartland. The government is coordinating emergency aid as thousands of homes and critical infrastructure remain damaged.
Why it matters
This natural disaster represents a major humanitarian crisis in Colombia, requiring urgent international and domestic relief efforts.
Rescue crews on Tuesday dug through mountains of rubble in western Colombia , shouting for quiet so they could listen for survivors still trapped under the buildings collapsed in a powerful earthquake estimated to have killed at least 250 people.
Families waited beside the rubble for signs of life.
The 7.4-magnitude quake, the most devastating to strike Colombia this century, tore through its coffee-growing heartland early on Monday, leaving apartment blocks, homes, schools and health centres cracked, leaning or flattened.
Separate reports from affected cities put the death toll at 254 on Tuesday morning, with 101 people killed in Pereira, deep in coffee country, and 95 in Cali, the country’s third-biggest city.
The South American country’s president, Abelardo de la Espriella, said around 2,595 were injured, while at least 195 remained missing.
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