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Strong earthquake jolts northeastern Colombia

11 March 2015 04:19 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. An earthquake measuring 6.6 on the Richter scale jolted northeastern parts of Colombia Tuesday, according to local sources, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

The Colombian Seismological Service said the quake struck at 3: 57 p.m., local time, with the epicenter being monitored at 7.4 kilometers away from Mesa de los Santos, the capital of Santander department, where initial reports said two electric towers were toppled by the temblor.

"No reports of victims following the 6.6-magnitude quake in most of Colombia," the country's Caracol news network reported on its website, adding instead "it caused a great scare."

The quake was also felt in Bogota, the national capital, and other regions including Bucaramanga, Medellin, Manizales, Costa Atlantica, the entire department of Boyaca and the area bordering Venezuela to the northeast.

In Bogota, tall buildings in the downtown area were evacuated.

Authorities were evaluating the situation to identify possible victims or structural damage caused by the strong quake, which disrupted cellphone service due to the flood of calls, in addition to causing panic.