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The Colombian government declared a "national disaster" situation this Monday due to the 7.4 magnitude earthquake that has left at least 73 people dead in the country, 29 of them in capital cities, and dozens of buildings collapsed, mainly in the coffee region and in the southwest.
The highest number of deaths is recorded in the Risaralda department, where there are 40 deaths, followed by 27 deaths in Valle del Cauca and four in Chocó, the epicenter of the earthquake, noted the Colombian Association of Capital Cities (Asocapitales) after participating in an extraordinary disaster committee led by Colombian President Abelardo de la Espriella.
Pereira, Cali, Manizales, Quibdó, and Armenia are focusing the most critical situations, with people dead, injured, and trapped, as well as collapsed buildings and damage to hospital infrastructure, airports, public services, and transport systems.
"In the department of Valle del Cauca (...) we have more or less 27 people dead," stated the regional governor, Dilian Francisca Toro, to journalists.
Toro explained that at the University Hospital of Cali, a city for which there are still no death figures, some areas collapsed and there are people trapped, so firefighters and the Army are working on rescue and evacuation efforts.
"We have destruction of houses, of buildings in all the municipalities of Valle del Cauca," assured Toro, who described the situation in the department as "serious" and noted that nearly 80% of the buildings in the municipality of El Cairo were destroyed.
The earthquake occurred at 7:34 local time (12:34 GMT) this Monday and had its epicenter in the town of San José del Palmar, in the Chocó department, in the Pacific region, and at a depth of 82 kilometers, according to the Colombian Geological Service (SGC).
[Publicidad]