Strong earthquake in Colombia and Ecuador has people evacuating homes and buildings

Officials in Colombia are reporting deaths, injuries, people trapped inside collapsed buildings and serious damage after a 7.4-magnitude earthquake shook western Colombia and the region on Monday morning.

The quake’s epicenter was reported in the municipality of San José Del Palmar in the department ​of Chocó.

In Valle del Cauca, about 254 miles south of Chocó, Gov. Dilian Francisca Toro said “the situation is serious.”

She reported the deaths of three children in the municipality of Calima and another fatality in Zarzal. Speaking from the University Hospital of the Valley, Toro said the facility suffered “structural collapses” and that rescue and evacuation operations were underway.

In Chocó, Gov. Nubia Carolina Córdoba-Curi said on social media that injuries and serious damage to buildings have been reported in the capital city of Quibdó, about 188 miles northwest of the reported epicenter.

“We are already conducting a damage assessment to issue the first official report,” Córdoba-Curi wrote on X in Spanish.

Alejandro Eder, mayor of Cali, said that at least 20 buildings have collapsed in the city “with people trapped inside.” Emergency response teams have already begun to set tents in the area to coordinate rescue efforts, Eder added.

According to Colombia’s civil aviation authority, airports in Pereira, Manizales, Quibdó, Armenia, Cartago and Buenaventura “have been affected.” Flights at these airports have been suspended “pending an assessment of structural damage to the facilities.”

De La Espriella added he is awaiting a “detailed report on the situation and the most urgent needs.”

The earthquake follows two back-to-back 7.2- and 7.5-magnitude earthquakes in Venezuela in late June. Those earthquakes destroyed hundreds of buildings and killed more than 5,000 people.