Strong earthquake strikes western Colombia, with injuries and damage reported

A strong earthquake with a magnitude of 7.4 struck western Colombia on Monday, causing serious damage to buildings in the region. An unspecified number of injuries were also reported. 

The epicenter was in San José del Palmar, a community of about 4,800 people in the Chocó region about 250 miles west of Colombia’s capital, Bogotá, the U.S. Geological Survey and Colombia’s counterpart reported. USGS also reported a 5.0 magnitude aftershock less than an hour later.

The governor of Chocó province said in a post on X that there are injuries and significant damage to buildings in the city of Quibdó, where about 130,000 people live. Gov. Nubia Carolina Córdoba-Curi said they are currently assessing the damage.

The earthquake prompted evacuations as far away as Bogotá. Witnesses reported feeling the shaking across the capital and all the way to the coast in Barranquilla, as well as in neighboring Ecuador to the south.

No structural damage was reported in Bogotá, Mayor Carlos F. Galán said. 

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

Colombian President Abelardo de la Espriella said in a social media post that he is leading the emergency response and will travel to the quake zone.

The earthquake in Colombia 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.

The area where Monday’s quake hit, Colombia’s coffee region, was devastated by an earthquake in 1999 that killed more than 1,200 people.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.