Americas

Home page

Americas

Colombia quake death toll tops 250 as rescuers race to find survivors

12 August 2026 13:52 (UTC +04:00)

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 that collapsed in a powerful earthquake estimated to have killed at least 250 people, Reuters reports.

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 centers 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.

Many Indigenous communities in the forested Pacific-facing region of Choco close to the quake epicenter are still without power or basic services, complicating rescue efforts.

The earthquake struck just days after the inauguration of new President Abelardo De La Espriella, who traveled to the affected regions and promised economic support to people who lost their homes.

The government, which announced immediate austerity measures as it came into power, is currently preparing to revise a more than $180 billion budget prepared by their leftist predecessors.

The National Coffee Federation was working on the ground with families to assess damage to farms and rural ⁠infrastructure, its chief German Bahamon said on social media.

Meanwhile, rescuers worked through Monday night and Tuesday with cranes, excavators and their bare hands, creating human chains and passing buckets filled with debris as they searched for people still trapped.