Strong Earthquake Strikes Western Colombia; Buildings Damaged and Injuries Reported

A strong earthquake struck western Colombia on Monday morning, damaging buildings, prompting reports of injuries and sending tremors across much of the country as authorities searched affected areas and worked to assess the extent of the disaster. No official death toll or consolidated national injury count had been confirmed in the first hours after the quake.

The earthquake hit at about 7:34 a.m. local time, or 12:34 UTC, with its epicenter in or near San José del Palmar in Chocó department. In the early reporting, seismological agencies gave different preliminary measurements. The U.S. Geological Survey, as reported by The Associated Press, put the quake at magnitude 7.4 and about 107 kilometers, or 66 miles, deep. Colombia’s Servicio Geológico Colombiano, the country’s national earthquake-monitoring agency, initially reported a magnitude of 6.7 at a depth of 82 kilometers.

The shaking was widely felt across western and central Colombia, including in Bogotá, Cali, Pereira, Manizales, Armenia, Popayán and Medellín, and was also felt in neighboring Ecuador, according to AP.

The clearest early reports of damage came from Quibdó, the capital of Chocó. Chocó Gov. Nubia Córdoba said on social media, as quoted by AP, that in Quibdó “there are injuries and serious damage to buildings.” AP also reported social media footage and other reports indicating building collapses or heavy damage in Pereira, Cali and Quibdó.

In Manizales, AP reported that one tower of the city’s neo-Gothic cathedral collapsed onto the nave. Search efforts also were reported in Quibdó after building collapses. Early reports carried by TASS, citing Caracol TV, said rescuers and residents were searching through rubble there. Those reports also raised the possibility that people were trapped in one building, but no trapped-person count had been independently confirmed in the reporting available.

Colombia’s national disaster-response agency, known as UNGRD, was receiving damage reports from multiple departments and coordinating municipal assessments, according to early reporting. The agency coordinates the country’s response to disasters and emergencies. President Abelardo de la Espriella said on X that he would personally oversee recovery efforts and set up an emergency center in San José del Palmar.

The earthquake’s immediate human toll remained uncertain as officials gathered information from affected cities and towns. There was still no confirmed national death toll Monday, and authorities had not yet released a consolidated figure for injuries.

Colombia sits in a seismically active zone where the Nazca, Caribbean and South American tectonic plates interact, and strong earthquakes are not unusual, especially in the west. Different agencies often publish different preliminary magnitude and depth estimates in the first hours after a major quake.