Powerful earthquake kills at least 20 in western Colombia

Manizales, Colombia. At least 20 people were killed after a powerful earthquake struck western Colombia on Monday, causing building collapses and trapping people beneath rubble, authorities said.

The Colombian Geological Service revised the earthquake’s magnitude to 7.4 and said it struck at a depth of 96 kilometres.

Damage and rescue efforts

Manizales Mayor Jorge Eduardo Rojas said people had been killed in the town.

In Cali, Mayor Alejandro Eder said preliminary reports indicated that at least 20 structures had collapsed, with people trapped. Cali requested disaster teams from Bogota and Medellin to assist rescue operations.

The earthquake’s epicentre was near San Jose del Palmar in Choco, a sparsely populated province on Colombia’s Pacific coast.

Choco Governor Nubia Carolina Cordoba reported injuries and significant damage in Quibdo, the provincial capital, and warned residents about possible aftershocks.

In neighbouring Risaralda province, Governor Juan Diego Patino said some buildings in Pereira, a major city in Colombia’s coffee-growing region, had suffered serious damage.

Flights suspended

Colombia’s civil aviation authority suspended flights at airports in Pereira, Manizales, Quibdo, Armenia, Cartago and Buenaventura while inspections were carried out for structural damage.

The country’s disaster agency said it had received reports from nine departments and all 32 departmental capitals, where the earthquake was felt. The tremor prompted evacuations and initial reports of damage.

Regional impact

The US tsunami warning system said there was no tsunami threat.

Reuters witnesses said the earthquake was also felt in Venezuela’s border state of Tachira and in the central-western city of Barquisimeto. Venezuela was hit by twin earthquakes in June that killed more than 6,000 people, mostly along the coast near the capital, Caracas.