Baby pulled from rubble as Colombia earthquake death toll rises

The death toll from a powerful earthquake that struck western Colombia has risen to 181 people, with thousands still missing.

The 7.4 magnitude quake on Monday (Tuesday AEST) caused multiple buildings to collapse, forcing people to evacuate their homes, workplaces and schools as far away as the capital of Bogota.

Colombia’s President Abelardo de la Espriella said the death toll was now 181, with 2595 people hurt.

A citizen-run website with the names and faces of loved ones who have not been found has more than 3800 names.

Authorities believe the figure will rise as rescue operations continue.

Almost 30 hours after the quake struck, survivors were being pulled from the rubble of collapsed buildings.

They included a baby from under the rubble of an apartment building in Cali.

Dramatic video shows rescuers lifting the infant to safety.

Emergency services were alerted by a group of local residents, including Osorio Zuluaga.

While calling out for survivors he heard a faint male voice say “I’m over here. I’m with a baby.”

“I told the person to scream louder if possible,” said Zuluaga,

“When I finally located where their voice was coming from, I yelled for help. ‘There’s one over here! They’re with a baby; they’re with a baby!’”

Zuluaga said that he and six others pulled the baby out before emergency responders arrived and continued the rescue efforts.

The epicentre of the earthquake was in San Jose Del Palmar, a community of about 4800 people in the Choco region about 402 kilometres west of Bogota, the US Geological Survey and Colombia’s counterpart reported.

The USGS said it struck at a depth of 106 kilometres just after 7.30am (10.30pm AEST). 

Read more

Mark Zuckerberg’s superyacht did not ignore stranded boat, spokesperson claims

The quake also was felt in neighbouring Ecuador and Panama, though minimal damage was reported there.

This region is part of the so-called Ring Of Fire, a horseshoe shaped area lining the Pacific Ocean, where 90 per cent of the world’s earthquakes occur.

Local officials confirmed that at least 18 people had been killed in the city of Pereira, two in the city of Manizales, and 27 people in the Valle del Cauca department, where Colombia’s third-biggest city, Cali, is located. At least three killed in Valle del Cauca were children, the governor reported.

Dozens of people are trapped beneath the rubble, with major rescue efforts underway.

The city’s mayor has called the search and rescue mission “a needle in a haystack exercise”.

De La Espriella said he had assumed leadership of the rescue and recovery efforts.

“I am at the forefront of the situation. It pains me deeply what the families and affected regions are going through,” he said on X.

The government has declared a state of national disaster.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said America was monitoring the situation and stood ready to offer aid to affected regions.

Australians in the country who need assistance have been urged to contact the embassy in Bogota, while the Smartraveller website warns people to exercise a high degree of caution in travelling to the country.

“Be aware of aftershocks and follow the advice of local authorities,” the website said in a morning update.

“Air operations in Cali, Armenia, Buenaventura, Cartago, Manizales, Medellin, Pereira and Quibdo are reportedly suspended. Contact your airline or travel agent for updates on flight availability.”

The quake left cities across the west of the country — Pereira, Quibdo, Cali and Manizales — ravaged.

A mix of residents and search teams picked through the rubble of collapsed buildings amid concerns by authorities of aftershocks. Colombia’s interior minister said more than 20 municipalities across the country had been hit.

Jorge Moncayo, a 64-year-old taxi driver in Cali, said he saw plumes of dust shoot up across the city from his home in hills of the city as buildings collapsed. Residents in the city and rescue workers were searching the rubble for survivors.

“My entire house shook. I’ve never lived through such a powerful earthquake,” he said.

“We’re thanking God we’re alive.”

Colombia’s Geological Service said on Monday that it had been “the highest magnitude earthquake registered in Colombia in the last decade” and that it had been followed by two aftershocks measuring magnitude 2.8 and 4.8. Authorities also reported that flights were suspended in the airports of Manizales, Quibdo, Armenia, Cartago, Buenaventura and Pereira.

The earthquakes left many in the Andean nation unnerved after two back-to-back quakes devastated neighbouring Venezuela in late June, destroyed hundreds of buildings and killed more than 5000 people.

At the same time the quake brought down buildings in Colombia, desperate families in Venezuela continued to search the ruins for the bodies of their loved ones.

In Pereira, photos and videos published by local media showed pieces of the airport ceiling falling down on travellers taking shelter and screaming, and people running through rubble in a panic.

Pereira’s mayor, Mauricio Salazar, told a local radio station that at least 18 people had died and that many more were trapped under “a massive quantity of collapsed buildings”.

He has now announced a curfew on the town, along with the shuttering of schools, in order to facilitate the passage of emergency vehicles and workers.

“As mayor of Pereira, I must appeal to the solidarity of all Pereirans to go home because we need traffic to flow for emergency response agencies,” he said on X.

In nearby Manizales, a city nestled in the coffee-producing mountains of Colombia, one of the towers of the neo-Gothic cathedral collapsed and fell on the nave.

Colombia is the third-largest producer of coffee in the world, behind Brazil and Vietnam.

Colombia produces about 7 per cent of the world’s beans.

Jorge Eduardo Rojas, the mayor of Manizales, said two people had died in the city “because of the quake” and asked residents to stay outside in case of aftershocks.

Authorities in the rural state of Choco, the epicentre of the quake, reported injured people and damaged buildings in the capital, but provided few details.

In Cali, a city of two million people, Mayor Alejandro Eder said that residents were trapped in at least 19 buildings that had collapsed.

Small earthquakes, known as “temblors,” are common in central and western Colombia, but those above magnitude 6.0 are rare.

In 1999, a 6.2 magnitude quake near the city of Armenia, killed more than 1100 people.