A significant seismic event struck western Colombia on Monday, with a magnitude of 7.4, centered near San José del Palmar in Chocó province. The tremor was felt across a wide region and resulted in substantial casualties and structural damage in multiple cities throughout the affected area.
Rescue operations have continued in the aftermath, with one notable success occurring when 32-year-old Daniela Largo was extracted from beneath a collapsed building in Pereira. Emergency personnel located her through audio detection after a local resident heard her calling for assistance from under the debris. The extraction required a 10-hour-long operation, during which firefighters from Pereira, personnel dispatched from the capital, and national police disaster response teams worked to reach her. The complexity of the rescue was heightened by four heavy concrete slabs blocking direct access, necessitating the excavation of two separate tunnels—one from above to deliver oxygen and another from below to enable her removal from the rubble.
Casualty figures have mounted across the affected region, with Pereira reporting 79 confirmed deaths and Cali experiencing 95 fatalities. The overall death toll stands at a minimum of 188 individuals. In Pereira alone, at least 92 buildings sustained collapse, with 15 individuals confirmed trapped and 37 reported missing. Cali continues search and rescue efforts with more than 200 people remaining trapped as of earlier reporting, though 87 individuals have already been recovered from that city. The local mayor implemented a nighttime curfew with military patrols to ensure safe passage for rescue operations.
The initial earthquake was followed by more than 100 aftershocks, complicating ongoing rescue and recovery efforts. Recovery operations remain active in both major cities, with officials expressing cautious optimism about locating additional survivors. Largo’s rescue was publicly acknowledged by the Colombian President as a positive development amid the broader humanitarian crisis.
Article Attribution | Read More at Article Source
Article summary produced by Claude AI