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Colombia has declared three days of national mourning following a devastating 7.4-magnitude earthquake that killed at least 265 people, injured 3,494 and left 496 others missing.
The earthquake struck at 7:34am local time on Monday (August 10) near San José del Palmar in Chocó province, with its epicentre located 107 kilometres underground. It is the deadliest earthquake to hit Colombia this century.
President Abelardo de la Espriella said national flags would be flown at half-mast at all government buildings and diplomatic missions during the mourning period.
Rescue teams are working around the clock in major cities including Pereira and Cali to locate survivors. Heavy machinery, sniffer dogs and human chains are being used in the search for those still missing.
“The search for the missing is our top priority,” President de la Espriella said.
According to the National Unit for Disaster Risk Management (UNGRD), the earthquake completely destroyed 9,215 homes and damaged another 45,457. The scale of the destruction has prompted the government to declare a national disaster.
UNGRD Director David Santiago Tamayo said the government would prioritise technical rescue teams from four partner countries—the United States, Israel, Ecuador and El Salvador—based on operational standards.
Former President Gustavo Petro criticised the policy, saying on X that applying ideological criteria to international assistance was a major mistake. Government officials, however, clarified that Colombia had not formally rejected assistance from any country.
Amid the debate, a Mexican civilian volunteer rescue team, Brigada Internacional de Rescate Topos Azteca, arrived in Cali on Wednesday to join the search and rescue efforts.
The worst damage has been reported in rural areas close to the earthquake’s epicentre. In El Cairo, Valle del Cauca, local emergency services said around 80% of infrastructure had been damaged, while about 10% of buildings had completely collapsed.