More than 100 people were killed in Colombia’s earthquake yesterday, prompting the European Union to fund and assist rescue efforts, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said.
“The EU has mobilised Copernicus, our satellite service, to support rescue and relief operations. We are providing funding to support the response, including through the Red Cross,” Ms Kallas posted on X.
“We have also activated the EU’s crisis consular assistance mechanism to support EU citizens caught in the disaster,” Ms Kallas said.
Watch: People search rubble for survivors in aftermath of earthquake
The 7.4-magnitude quake struck Colombia’s coffee-growing heartland yesterday, leaving at least 164 people dead.
In cities including Pereira and Cali, multi-storey buildings collapsed into heaps of rubble, while one tower of a historic cathedral in Manizales was left badly cracked.
A man carries a dog as he walks past the rubble of a collapsed building in Pereira, Colombia
Rescue crews backed by police, soldiers and volunteers searched through the night, using excavators and, in some cases, their bare hands to reach people buried beneath the debris.
At least 85 people were killed in Cali, a city of about 2.2 million residents. Buildings were either destroyed or left dangerously tilted, driving residents out onto the streets.
Several upper floors of a Cali hospital, including areas devoted to paediatric care, collapsed inward. Some patients were trapped, while about 600 others were treated outside amid the rubble, hospital director Irne Torres Castro told Caracol television.
People are pulled from a collapsed building after an earthquake in Cali, Colombia
Carmen Yasmin Garcia, 43, a Cali resident who joined the rescue effort, said yesterday afternoon that her group had pulled seven people from a collapsed building. Four more people and a dog were still trapped.
“A moment ago there was scratching, but now we can’t hear anything; we still have faith that the dog is alive and we can get these people out,” Ms Garcia said. “We need people with sticks and spades; the more people lending a hand, the better.”
Authorities in Pereira, the capital of the badly affected state of Risaralda, reported 66 deaths.
The city suffered some of the earthquake’s most striking damage, as entire residential blocks were flattened, leaving behind concrete and twisted metal. Video shared on social media and verified by Reuters showed Pereira’s airport swaying violently during the quake, with sections of the ceiling crashing down as people took shelter.
Thirteen more people were killed in Choco, the rural province nearest to the earthquake’s epicentre.
Security forces headed to Cali
President Abelardo De La Espriella, who took office only days ago, said 35 people had died in Cali and 188 remained missing. Following reports of looting, he said 1,000 security personnel would be sent to the city by dawn. Curfews were imposed in both Cali and Pereira last night.
“Our intention is to cooperate in any way necessary. Here, there are no distinctions or ideological divisions when it comes to defending our people or showing solidarity,” Mr De La Espriella told journalists yesterday evening.
The devastation revived memories of the 1999 earthquake that struck the same coffee-growing region and killed more than 1,000 people. It also drew comparisons with catastrophic earthquakes in neighbouring Venezuela in June, where more than 6,300 people died.
