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Strong earthquake strikes western Colombia, killing over 100 people

CBS News · back to the audit
A strong earthquake with a magnitude of 7.4 struck western Colombia on Monday, killing more than 100 people, injuring dozens more and causing major damage across the region. It was the largest quake to hit the country on record.
The epicenter was in San Jose del Palmar, a community in the rural Choco province about 250 miles west of Colombia's capital, Bogota, the U.S. Geological Survey and its counterpart in Colombia reported. USGS also reported a 5.0 magnitude aftershock less than an hour later.
At least 111 people were killed and at least 87 were injured, Colombian President Abelardo de la Espriella said. He declared an emergency to expedite funding for the quake recovery.
Most of the deaths were reported in provinces neighboring Choco, including at least 40 in the Risaralda region, where the hard-hit city of Pereira is located, and 27 in the Valle del Cauca region, where Colombia's third-biggest city, Cali, is located.
Choco Gov. Nubia Carolina Cordoba-Curi said on social media that at least 12 people had died in her province. Four deaths were reported in the city of Manizales in the Caldas region.
About 10.5 million people experienced strong to very strong shaking, according to USGS.
The quake left cities, including Cali, Manizales, Pereira and Quibdo, ravaged with a mix of residents and search teams picking through the rubble of collapsed buildings. More than 20 municipalities across the country had been hit and hundreds of buildings were damaged, officials said.
In Cali, a city of 2 million people, there were 30 collapsed structures, Mayor Alejandro Eder said on social media.
"My entire house shook," he said. "I've never lived through such a powerful earthquake."
Monday's earthquake was the strongest to hit Colombia since record-keeping started in the early 1920s.
The seismic activity in Colombia also follows two back-to-back 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude quakes that struck neighboring Venezuela in late June, which caused widespread damage and killed more than 5,000 people.