A major earthquake struck the western portion of Colombia on Aug. 10, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), and officials have said that at least 111 people have died.
The quake registered at a magnitude of 7.4 on the Richter scale, the USGS reported. It hit about three miles to the east of San José del Palmar in the western portion of the country, roughly 250 miles west of Bogotá, the capital.
Colombian President Abelardo de la Espriella said at least 111 people died and 87 people were injured. He also declared an emergency to expedite funding for the quake recovery while saying he would visit the disaster zone.
“We aren’t going to leave people alone. They are in our hearts, and we are going to tend to people with our full determination,” he said.
The USGS reported that the earthquake struck at a depth of 66 miles. In a statement on social media, the governor of the state of Chocó, Nubia Córdoba, said that her office is “concerned about aftershocks” triggered by the quake, according to a translation.
“Although the epicenter was in San José del Palmar, in the capital Quibdó there are injuries and severe damage to buildings. We are already conducting the damage assessment to issue the first official report,” she wrote on X, describing the quake as a “severe seismic event.”
In Bogotá, the quake was felt strongly.
“After the earthquake was felt around 7:34 a.m., as of this hour, there are no reports of impacts or structural damage, just some cracks in buildings,” Bogotá Mayor Carlos Galán said in a post on X.
Dramatic footage posted on social media shows the quake shaking buildings. Other video footage posted online shows what appeared to be a damaged church and other structures in the quake’s aftermath. The Epoch Times could not immediately confirm the authenticity of the videos.
Colombia’s Geological Service stated on Aug. 10 that it had been “the highest magnitude earthquake registered in Colombia in the last decade” and that it had been followed by two 2.8 and 4.8 magnitude aftershocks. Authorities also reported that flights were suspended in the airports of Manizales, Quibdo, Armenia, Cartago, Buenaventura, and Pereira.
The Colombian Maritime Authority ruled out any tsunami threat to the Colombian Pacific coast following the quake.
The governor of the state of Antioquia said in a statement that so far, there have been “no reports of victims or injuries,” according to local media outlet El Espectador. The state includes Medellín, the second-largest city in the country.
The quake was also felt by residents in neighboring Ecuador, according to the El Comercio newspaper.
The Aug. 10 tremor comes weeks after back-to-back 7.2- and 7.5-magnitude earthquakes hammered nearby Venezuela in June. Hundreds of buildings were destroyed, and more than 5,000 people died, officials said.
