A magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck western Colombia on Monday, killing at least 111 people and prompting the government to declare a national emergency.
DR reports that the quake hit on Monday morning and left at least 111 people dead and at least 87 injured. The Colombian government declared a national emergency the same day, as rescue teams searched collapsed buildings.
The city of Cali was among the hardest hit. According to DR, at least 30 buildings there collapsed, and rescue workers, police, and volunteers were clearing rubble in search of survivors. Schoolchildren covered in dust were seen comforting each other in the street.
Epicenter in Chocó province
The epicenter was near San José del Palmar in Chocó province, DR reports. The highest reported death toll was in the neighboring province of Risaralda. Colombia’s geological institute stated that the quake was the strongest recorded in the country in the 21st century.
The U.S. Geological Survey lists the event as a magnitude 7.4 earthquake near San José del Palmar, at a depth of about 107 kilometers. CNN reported that the epicenter lay roughly 280 kilometers west of Bogotá. Per USGS data cited by CNN and Reuters, the quake struck at 7:34 a.m. local time on August 10, 2026.
Colombia’s geological institute also said 21 aftershocks had been registered by late Monday, according to reporting by Reuters cited in the DR article. The institute warned that further shaking was possible.
Rescue crews in Cali were still working at collapsed buildings on Monday evening local time. As reported by Reuters, a local fireman in Cali named Mauricio Andrade said his team had freed two adult women and two children from one collapsed building. He said the crew was preparing to pull more people from the rubble, and that those trapped were alive.
A resident of a damaged building in Cali, identified as Sandra, described the shaking to AP as long and powerful. She said water poured down inside her building, and that the building next door had completely collapsed by the time she got outside. Another eyewitness, Karina Riascos, told Colombian broadcaster Caracol Television that she was on the floor during the quake and thinking only of her daughter, who was at school.
The death toll rose sharply during the day. CNN’s live coverage cited a figure of at least 29 dead earlier in the same news cycle, before the higher count reported by DR.
Colombia’s president, Abelardo de la Espriella, declared the national emergency as a result of the earthquake, DR reports. De la Espriella took office earlier this year.
