Rabat – A powerful 7.4 magnitude earthquake struck western Colombia today, killing at least 47 people and collapsing dozens of buildings as rescue teams search for residents trapped under debris.
According to local officials, at least 47 people have died, including 18 in Pereira, two in Manizales, and 27 in Valle del Cauca, where at least three of the victims were children. Rescue teams continue searching through collapsed buildings across several western cities.
Colombia’s geological service revised the earthquake’s magnitude to 7.4 and placed its depth at 96 kilometers. The quake’s epicenter was located near San Jose del Palmar in the western Choco region, approximately 400 kilometers west of Bogota.
Significant damage and injuries were reported in Quibdo, the capital of Choco, where authorities warned residents of possible aftershocks. Meanwhile, in Manizales, part of the city’s historic neo-Gothic cathedral collapsed during the tremor.
The impact extended nationwide, with the earthquake felt across all 32 departmental capitals, triggering evacuations and damage reports in several regions. Tremors also reached neighboring Ecuador and parts of Venezuela.
Air travel was temporarily disrupted as officials suspended flights at airports in Pereira, Manizales, Quibdo, Armenia, Cartago, and Buenaventura for structural safety inspections. Meanwhile, emergency authorities confirmed there was no tsunami threat following the earthquake.
Colombia’s president also assumed direct oversight of the government’s emergency response in San Jose del Palmar as rescue and damage assessment operations continued on the ground.
Earthquakes are common in central and western Colombia, although tremors above magnitude 6.0 are relatively rare. A 6.2 magnitude earthquake near Armenia in 1999 killed more than 1,100 people.
