Strong earthquake in Colombia and Ecuador as officials report deaths, injuries and collapsed buildings

At least 52 people have been killed in the 7.4-magnitude earthquake that shook western Colombia and the region Monday morning, according to officials in the region, who also reported dozens of injuries, people trapped inside collapsed buildings and serious damages.

The quake’s epicenter was reported in the municipality of San José del Palmar in the department ​of Chocó.

In Valle del Cauca, about 254 miles south of Chocó, Gov. Dilian Francisca Toro said “the situation is serious.”

She reported the deaths of 27 people across Valle Del Cauca, including three children. Speaking from the University Hospital of the Valley, Toro said that the facility suffered “structural collapses” and that rescue and evacuation operations were underway.

In Chocó, Gov. Nubia Carolina Córdoba-Curi said on social media that injuries and serious damage to buildings have been reported in the capital city of Quibdó, about 188 miles northwest of the reported epicenter.

“We are already conducting a damage assessment to issue the first official report,” Córdoba-Curi wrote on X in Spanish.

As of 10:43 a.m., Córdoba-Curi reported four deaths and 69 people injured in Chocó.

In Pereira, a city in Colombia’s coffee-growing region, Mayor Mauricio Salazar said 18 people had died. In nearby Manizales, Mayor Jorge Eduardo Rojas ​said two people were killed.

Alejandro Eder, mayor of Cali, said that at least 20 buildings have collapsed in the city “with people trapped inside.” Emergency response teams have already begun to set tents in the area to coordinate rescue efforts, Eder added.

Cali resident Luis Angel Sarrio told NBC News Cali he strongly felt the earthquake there.

“There are many damaged buildings, collapsed buildings, people trapped, and fatalities; the quake felt here was very severe,” Sarrio, a taxi driver, said in Spanish. “What has happened here in my country has been very hard and very sad.”

While Sarrio and his immediate family are safe, he said, “we are saddened by the loss of life.”

According to Colombia’s civil aviation authority, airports in Pereira, Manizales, Quibdó, Armenia, Cartago and Buenaventura “have been affected.” Flights at these airports have been suspended “pending an assessment of structural damage to the facilities.”

Colombia’s newly inaugurated president, Abelardo De La Espriella, stated he has “personally taken charge of the emergency response in San José del Palmar” and ordered the “establishment of a Unified Command Post to coordinate the response to the damage and assist those affected.”

De La Espriella added he is awaiting a “detailed report on the situation and the most urgent needs.”

The earthquake 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.