Powerful earthquake hits western Colombia, injures hundreds, traps many

The U.S. Geological Survey measured a deep 7.4-magnitude earthquake centered in San José del Palmar, about 250 miles west of Bogotá, after the shaking hit Colombia’s Pacific coast and sent damage and evacuations spreading into Ecuador. More than 480 people were injured, and officials feared more were trapped under collapsed buildings as crews worked through the wreckage.

Nubia Carolina Córdoba, the governor of Chocó province, said people had been injured and expressed concern about reports of trapped residents. In the hardest-hit stretch of Colombia’s Pacific coast, collapsed structures became the most visible sign of the disaster, with officials describing significant damage in coastal communities and inland areas near the epicenter.

By August 10 and 11, the death toll had climbed to at least 132, and Colombia’s president, Gustavo Petro, declared a national disaster. The rising casualty count put the quake among the deadliest to hit Colombia in years, with the toll expected to keep changing as responders reached damaged neighborhoods and sifted through debris.

The earthquake also forced evacuations in neighboring Ecuador, widening the emergency beyond Colombia’s borders. That cross-border impact reflected how strongly the quake was felt across the region, even as the center of the crisis remained in Chocó province and around San José del Palmar.

The scale of the destruction pointed to the vulnerability of buildings in the Pacific corridor, where collapsed structures left rescuers racing against time for anyone still inside. With injuries already numbering in the hundreds and more people feared trapped, the focus in Colombia shifted from the shock of the quake itself to the grim task of finding survivors and assessing how much of the region’s housing and public infrastructure had failed under the force of the tremor.