A magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck Colombia just after 7:30 a.m., when thousands of people were already commuting to work, school or university, killing at least 111 people and injuring 87 others. The quake was centered near San Jose del Palmar in the Choco department and was also felt in parts of Panama, Ecuador and Venezuela.
According to the Colombian Geological Service, the tremor occurred at a depth of 82 kilometers. It struck Bogota, Cali, Popayan, Manizales, Armenia, Pereira, Medellin and other cities in central and western Colombia.
President Abelardo de la Espriella gave the death and injury figures during a press conference, describing them as a partial count. He said 1,575 homes had been damaged, 37 destroyed outright and 61 buildings had collapsed. Officials also recorded damage to 18 health centers, 52 schools, 17 community centers and 18 roads, along with six airports left unable to handle commercial flights.
The government declared a national disaster in response. Pereira, Cali, Manizales, Quibdo and Armenia were reported as the hardest-hit cities.
Felt across the region
Venezuela assessed the quake's impact in the border states of Tachira and Zulia. In Panama, the tremor triggered evacuations of buildings and hospitals in the capital and other areas, the news agency EFE reported, with shaking lasting between 40 seconds and a minute and felt in Darien province and the Guna Yala comarca near the Colombian border.
In Ecuador, the shaking reached the capital Quito and Imbabura province, and was reportedly felt in Santo Domingo de los Tsachilas, Los Rios, and the coastal areas of Esmeraldas, Guayas and Manabi.
What caused the earthquake
Luis Angel Moya, a professor in the Engineering Department at Peru's Pontifical Catholic University, said the leading theory points to a subduction process between the Nazca and South American tectonic plates. He said subduction describes how moving plates interact and build up energy that is released at great depths.
Moya noted that a June 26 earthquake in Venezuela likely also stemmed from subduction, but involved different plates, the South American and Caribbean plates.
Aftershocks and seismic history
The Colombian newspaper El Tiempo reported that the National Seismological Network recorded two significant aftershocks, of magnitude 2.8 and 4.8. The paper noted the epicenter region has a history of major quakes, including a magnitude 7.2 earthquake on November 23, 1979. Colombia records an average of 2,500 seismic movements a month, a pattern linked to the Pacific Ring of Fire, the belt of high seismic and volcanic activity that also runs through Chile, Ecuador, Peru, Japan, the United States and the Philippines.
Depth limited the damage
Rodrigo Leon, a seismologist at Colombia's Universidad de los Andes, told Canal N the quake's depth is estimated at between 90 and 110 kilometers, which allowed seismic waves to weaken somewhat. He said that had the quake been much shallower, the damage would have been far greater than what has already occurred.
Moya contrasted the event with a recent magnitude 5.5 quake in Junin, Peru, at a depth of just 10 kilometers, saying Colombia's quake stemmed from a local geological fault in the Andes that had been inactive for decades before reactivating in recent weeks. He said a 7.4 quake is about 708 times larger than a 5.5 quake on the logarithmic scale, though depth also accounts for the difference in impact.
Building safety concerns
Building collapses have been a recurring feature of recent earthquakes in the region. A recent quake in Peru destroyed 48 homes, while Venezuela has been assessing the condition of 51,000 buildings. Videos circulating on social media showed various types of structures collapsing easily.
Moya said that while Colombia has developed solid design codes in recent years, much construction is still done informally, without supervision or by builders with little experience. He added that older buildings constructed under outdated codes that did not account for such earthquakes remain a risk.
Peru is due to hold its second National Multi-Hazard Drill of the year on Friday, August 14 at 3 p.m., aimed at strengthening the disaster risk management system's preparedness. The date coincides with the 19th anniversary of the magnitude 7.9 earthquake that struck Ica, Peru, on August 15, 2007.
Moya also pointed to the growth of tall apartment buildings visible collapsing in social media videos, saying it is not yet clear how such multi-family buildings will perform in earthquakes and that Venezuela's recent quakes and Colombia's should serve as a lesson. He separately warned about landfill developments in some Lima districts being sold and built on poorly compacted, soft soil, and about the risk of falling non-structural elements such as planters or loose bricks on rooftop edges.
International support pours in
Several governments offered solidarity with Colombia. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said during her morning press conference that her government would offer all the support the people of Colombia might need.
Chilean President Jose Antonio Kast wrote on X that his government was ready to support Colombia in whatever it needed, saying Chile knows the pain and challenges earthquakes bring. Kast had been in Colombia the previous weekend for the inauguration of President de la Espriella.
Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele offered specialized emergency equipment, saying his country was in communication and ready to immediately send rescue teams, doctors, paramedics, supplies or any other help Colombia might need.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio offered support from the Trump administration and urged American citizens in Colombia to register with the State Department's website and follow the US Embassy in Bogota's social media accounts for assistance and information.
Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado also expressed solidarity, saying Venezuelans, who have suffered the devastating impact of earthquakes themselves, stand with the affected families with all their hearts.
