7.4-magnitude earthquake hits western Colombia, leaving at least 77 dead

At least 77 people were killed during a 7.4-magnitude earthquake Monday morning, with dozens of buildings collapsing across cities in western Colombia. Residents were trapped under debris, leaving people injured and forcing them to evacuate their homes all the way to the capital of Bogotá.

The epicenter was at San José del Palmar, a community of roughly 4,800 people in the Choco region, about 250 miles west of Bogotá, as the U.S. The Geological Survey and Columbia’s counterpart reported. 

The earthquake, which occurred at 7: 34 a.m. local time, also hit at a depth of 66 miles according to the USGS, with tremors felt in neighboring Ecuador. 

Local officials confirmed at least 40 people were killed in the department of Risaralda where the hardest-hit city, Peieira is located, and 27 people, including three children, in the Valle del Cauca department where Colombia's third-largest city, Cali is located. Two people also died in the city of Manizales. 

Colombia's interior minister said more than 20 municipalities across the nation had been hit, including Pereira, Quibdo, Cali and Manizales where residents and search teams could be seen going through the rubble of collapsed buildings, the Associated Press reported. 

The governor of Choco, Nubia Córdoba said in a social media post that “there are injuries and severe damage to buildings” in the region’s capital of Quibdó, which has around 130,000 people. “We are concerned about aftershocks,” she also wrote, and said government authorities were conducting a damage assessment to issue the first official report. 

Homes and small buildings collapsing in the cities of Pereira, Cali and Quibdo could also be seen in footage shared by local media outlets. In Manizales, a city about 190 miles west of Bogotá, the earthquake triggered the collapse of one of the neo-Gothic towers of Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary, a historic church in Colombia.

In Cali, a city with 2 million people, Mayor Alejandro Eder said that residents were trapped in at least 20 buildings that collapsed. Speaking to Reuters, Eder said he had requested support from rescue workers from the mayor of Bogotá and the mayor of Medellín.

Pereira’s mayor, Mauricio Salazar, told Caracol Radio, a local radio station that at least 18 people were killed and many more trapped under "a massive quantity of collapsed buildings."

Colombia's civil aviation authority, Aeronáutica Civil, said operations at least seven airports in Columbia were suspended for safety reasons following the earthquake, as the BBC reported.

President Abelardo de la Espriella, said that he was personally taking charge of the government’s response to the emergency in San José del Palmar, including the establishment of a Unified Command Post in Bogotá to coordinate responses to the damage and impacted individuals. He also said that he would be in Pereira, one of the hardest-hit cities. 

"I will also be personally in Pereira to support those affected and monitor the government's response. You are not alone. The government is present and taking action," he said. 

Meanwhile, messages of support are coming from leaders across the Americas and the U.S.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a post on X that "The Trump administration is closely monitoring the large earthquake that struck Colombia and stands ready to support the people of Colombia” and de la Espriella.

UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said "we stand ready to help as needed" as a number of countries offered aid, including the U.S., Israel, and neighboring countries like Ecuador, Chile and Venezuela.

The earthquake comes after two 7.2. and 7.5 magnitude earthquakes that occurred back-to-back in neighboring Venezuela in late June, where those quakes destroyed hundreds of buildings and killed more than 5,000 people, according to the Associated Press.

Colombia's Pacific region around the epicenter of San José del Palmar lies along the "Ring of Fire," where most of the world's earthquakes occur due to the line of seismic faults which surround the Pacific Ocean. Colombia's Geological Service (SGC) said that it had been the "highest magnitude earthquake registered in Colombia in the last decade," and was followed by two 2.8 and 4.8 aftershocks.

Christina Park is a reporter for Just the News. Follow her on X for more coverage.