Key events

As we reported earlier, world leaders including the US and EU have sent messages of solidarity and offered support to Colombia.

Ecuador’s president Daniel Noboa Azin also offered 47 rescuers, specialized dogs, and equipment with autonomy to operate for 7 days. “We are ready to mobilize whenever you require,” he wrote on X.

Mexico’s president Claudia Sheinbaum also wrote: “Of course, all the support that the people of Colombia may require; we’ll be there.”

Brazil’s Lula also expressed his solidarity, writing on X: “Brazil remains at Colombia’s disposal to provide the necessary support.”

Nayib Bukele, president of El Salvador, said he was in communication with Colombian officials and was “ready to provide immediate support with our rescue teams, medical personnel, paramedics, supplies, or any other assistance that our Colombian brothers and sisters deem necessary”.

In Europe, French president Emmanuel Macron said: “I extend, on behalf of France, my most sincere thoughts to the Colombian people. I think of the victims, their families, the injured, and all those who have been affected by this disaster. Our solidarity also goes to the rescue teams and all those who are working, with courage, to assist the affected populations. In this ordeal, Colombia can count on our friendship and our support.”

Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez also offered “affection and solidarity with the Colombian people” and said Spain “stands with Colombia” at this difficult time.

Italian PM Giorgia Meloni said she was “anxiously” following updates on the earthquake. “In these difficult hours, Italy stands in solidarity with the Colombian people, the affected families, and all those engaged in rescue and assistance operations,” she said.

And Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine stands in “full support” and offered his condolences to those who have lost loved ones. “We call on everyone around the world who can support the affected people and countries right now to step up and help,” he wrote on X.

Colombian pop star Shakira has said her heart is with “everyone who felt this earthquake today”.

“In times like these, we Colombians know how to come together and support one another,” she wrote on X. “All my strength and love for my homeland. Let’s embrace tightly and stay tuned to the instructions so we can help as soon as possible.”

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said on Monday that the European Union was “ready to provide more support” to Colombia.

“Tonight, Europe’s heart is with the people of Colombia after the terrible earthquake in the Choco region. We have already mobilised Copernicus, our satellite service, to help with rescue operations,” she wrote on social media.

Eyewitness: 'People were falling and being struck by things'

Santiago Velázquez, an industrial advisor, was driving to his son’s school in the suburbs between Pereira and Cartago, in Colombia’s Risaralda province, when the quake hit.

All the cars had to stop because they were being thrown around as the earth shook, Velázquez said.

A car was crushed by debris after an earthquake struck Pereira, Colombia, on Monday. Photograph: Vladimir Encima/AP

He was already outside when it happened. “But people were falling and being struck by things as they tried to get out of their buildings,” he said.

Traffic is totally stuck at the moment, so Velázquez is getting a motorbike into the centre to try and help friends and family.

He knows of one landslide that carried away a few houses, and he had heard reports of some five-storey buildings in the suburbs that are “totally cracked”.

Some areas were without water, light or gas. A “disaster”, Velázquez said.

In an address to the nation around midday (local time), president de la Espriella said his government had deployed all of its capabilities “to protect lives, assist affected ‌communities and deliver aid wherever it is needed”.

“The first priority is rescuing the people trapped under the rubble,” he said.

The 7.4 magnitude quake struck at a depth ⁠of 107 km (66 miles) in Choco, a sparsely populated province on Colombia’s Pacific coast, but was felt in major cities nationwide.

More than 100 people dead after earthquake: Colombian president

Colombia’s new president, Abelardo de la Espriella, said the death toll from the earthquake has now reached 111, Reuters is reporting.

At least 87 were injured and 61 buildings collapsed, he said, noting the rescue of survivors was his priority.

At least 82 killed after powerful earthquake hits western Colombia

The death toll continues to climb after a powerful earthquake hit western Colombia on Monday.

At least 82 people have been confirmed dead, Reuters is reporting.

The province of Risaralda, in Colombia’s coffee-growing region, has suffered the highest toll so far, with governor Juan Diego Patino reporting 42 fatalities.

Dozens of injuries and heavy damage to buildings were also reported in Choco, the province closest to the epicentre of the 7.4 magnitude quake.

Abelardo De La Espriella, who was only sworn in as president a few days ago, has declared a national state of emergency to coordinate rescue efforts.

Residents and emergency personnel dig through the debris of a partially collapsed building after an earthquake, in Pereira, Colombia. Photograph: Reuters

Colombia declares state of national disaster after 7.4 magnitude earthquake

In the last hour, President Abelardo De La Espriella officially declared a situation of national disaster as the preliminary death toll rose to at least 72.

This will allow the executive branch to bypass bureaucratic hurdles to more quickly mobilise emergency funds and reallocate state resources to the most affected regions.

The decision was taken as the president convened an emergency meeting at the crisis room of Colombia’s National Unit for Disaster Risk Management in Bogotá.

The earthquake caused a tower of Manizales’ beloved cathedral to fall over. “A great many buildings” in the city sustained damage, administrator Jaime Zuluaga, 50, told AFP. “Traffic is paralyzed and people don’t want to go back to their homes for fear of an aftershock.”

A damaged tower of the Metropolitan Cathedral Basilica of Nuestra Senora del Rosario after the earthquake, in Manizales, Colombia. Photograph: John Jairo Bonilla/EPA

Colombia’s president Abelardo de la Espriella, who was just sworn in on Friday, said earlier that he was heading to Bogota to convene an emergency meeting.

“To the Colombians who are going through difficult times today, I want to say: You are not alone,” he added.

Washington is “closely monitoring the large earthquake that struck Colombia and stands ready to support the people of Colombia,” US secretary of state Marco Rubio wrote on X.

Israel offered its assistance, as did Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum and Ecuador’s Daniel Noboa.

Video posted on social media shows people fleeing as a building collapses during the powerful earthquake in Pereira, Colombia.

More than 70 people killed in Colombia earthquake

We have another update to the fast-changing death toll.

More than 70 people have died after a powerful earthquake struck western Colombia, collapsing and severely damaging buildings in major cities including Cali and Pereira.

Citing government officials, the newspaper El Espectador said at least 72 people had been killed, 40 of them in Risaralda.

The mayor of Manizales, Jorge Eduardo Rojas Giraldo, said at least 12 buildings and 20 homes had been partially or completely or destroyed there.

At least 69 people have been killed in the Colombia earthquake that has trapped residents under debris of collapsed buildings and forced people to evacuate their homes.

The epicenter was in San Jose Del Palmar, a community of about 4,800 people in the Chocó region about 250 miles (400 kilometers) west of Bogota, according to the US Geological Survey and Colombia’s counterpart. The USGS said it struck at a depth of 66 miles (107 kilometers). The quake also was felt in neighboring Ecuador, Venezuela and Panama, though minimal damage was reported there.

Local officials confirmed that at least 40 people were killed in the department of Risaralda, where the hard-hit city of Pereira is located, and 27 people in the Valle del Cauca department, where Colombia’s third-biggest city, Cali, is located. Two people also died in the city of Manizales.

At least three of those killed in Valle del Cauca were children, the governor said.

What we know so far

• At least 47 people have been killed, according to the latest figures from officials, and dozens of buildings have collapsed in cities across western Colombia. The quake caused serious damage to buildings and prompted evacuations as far away as Bogota.

• People remain trapped in Cali, one of Colombia’s largest cities, ​after more than two dozen structures ‌collapsed, mayor Alejandro Eder said. ‌ He added that the city had asked authorities in Bogota and Medellin to send disaster teams ‌to support rescue efforts.

• Colombia’s Geological Service said 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 y Buenaventura and Pereira.

• Colombian president Abelardo de la Espriella said in a post on X that he will personally supervise recovery efforts and install an emergency centre in San Jose del Palmar. The quake follows two back-to-back 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude earthquakes in Venezuela in late June. Those earthquakes destroyed hundreds of buildings and killed more than 5,000 people.

• Manizales’ mayor, Jorge Eduardo Rojas Giraldo, said more than 12 buildings and 20 homes had been partially or completely destroyed in that city. He said citizens needed to be “completely ready” for aftershocks.

• Jorge Moncayo, a 64-year-old taxi driver in Colombia’s third-biggest city, Cali, said he saw plumes of dust shoot up across the city from him home in the mountains as buildings collapsed after the earthquake. Residents in the city and rescue workers were already searching the rubble of collapsed buildings Monday morning.

• Footage shared by local media outlets showed homes and small buildings collapsing in the cities of Pereira, Cali and Quibdo. In Manizales, a city about 190 miles (300km) west of Bogota, one of the towers of the neo-Gothic cathedral collapsed and fell on the nave.

• In Cali, a city of 2m people, mayor Alejandro Eder said that residents were trapped in at least 19 buildings that had collapsed. Small earthquakes, known as “temblores,” are common in central and western Colombia, but those above 6.0 magnitude are rare. In 1999, a 6.2 magnitude quake near the city of Armenia, killed more than 1,100 people.

• Six airports damaged in today’s earthquake in Colombia have suspended operations, the civil aeronautics agency said. These airports in western Colombia serve Pereira, Manizales, Quibdo, Armenia, Cartago and Buenaventura, the agency wrote on X.

More photos of the damage caused by the earthquake in Colombia…

Residents dig through the debris of a collapsed building after an earthquake, in Cali, Colombia August 10, 2026. Photograph: Camilo Rodriguez/Reuters

Residents and emergency personnel dig through the debris of a partially collapsed building after an earthquake, in Pereira, Colombia August 10, 2026. Photograph: Reuters

People gather in the streets after a powerful earthquake struck Colombia, killing at least 18 people and causing damage in Pereira, Colombia, on August 10, 2026. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

47 dead and buildings collapsed after 7.4-magnitude earthquake shakes western Colombia

At least 47 people have been killed, according to the latest figures from officials, and dozens of buildings have collapsed in cities across western Colombia.

The quake caused serious damage to buildings and prompted evacuations as far away as Bogota.

Colombian president Abelardo de la Espriella says he will personally oversee recovery efforts. The quake was also felt in neighbouring Ecuador.

Earthquake death toll revised to 22 - officials

The death toll has been revised to 22, officials confirmed, after a 7.4 magnitude earthquake caused destruction in Colombia.

Local mayors had already announced the death of 20 people as a result of the natural disaster.

In Manizales, mayor Jorge Eduardo Rojas said a further person had been killed, bringing the figure to three.

One person has also died in Buenaventura, Colombia’s main Pacific port, when a building collapsed.