Listen to this article
Estimated 3 minutes
The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.
Colombian residents in the Greater Toronto Area are raising funds to support people affected by a powerful earthquake in the South American country this week.
Two GoFundMe pages have been set up to collect money for earthquake recovery and rebuilding.
Emergency response crews are still digging through rubble in the search for survivors of the 7.4 earthquake that struck western Colombia on Monday.
According to a report by Reuters, the quake has left more than 250 people dead, 3,770 people injured, more than 9,550 homes destroyed and more than 30,300 families affected.
Natalia Campo, owner of Delicious Empanadas, a Colombian restaurant in Toronto, said she is allocating five per cent of sales from its two locations on College Street and Eglinton Avenue West for relief efforts.
Campo said she is also directing people to donate to a GoFundMe page that has raised more than $3,000 so far. The money will go to families that have lost loved ones, homes, and belongings, and to non-profit organizations helping in search-and-rescue efforts and providing immediate assistance, according to the page.
“This is a moment that calls for everybody to be together to help in any way possible. And we have to stay together and we have to help each other,” Campo says in an Instagram video.
‘This is such a big tragedy,’ Colombian journalist says
Meanwhile, Toronto-based Colombian journalist Camilla Gonzales said Wednesday she is raising funds for Corporación Presentes, a Colombian organization that works in disaster recovery. Her GoFundMe page has raised more than $22,000 so far.
“This is just such a big tragedy and these communities are going to need a lot of help rebuilding, especially in a country that already has such a lack of resources in some of these areas,” Gonzales told CBC Radio’s Metro Morning.
Colombians and non-Colombians are helping out, she said.
“Everyone really just came together. A little bit of a silver lining in all of this is that we were all kind of able to unite and to try and bring back as much help as possible.”
On her GoFundMe Page, Gonzales says: “While I am incredibly grateful that my own family is safe, many families across the country are facing unimaginable loss. Buildings and homes have collapsed or been severely damaged, communities have been affected across multiple regions, and the full extent of the devastation is still being assessed.”
2 drop off sites set up in GTA for supplies
Gonzales said Colombia faces an “enormous recovery” in the days ahead and the funds will go toward rebuilding in hard-hit communities.
“My hope is that together we can help some of the families and communities who will still need support long after the immediate emergency response ends,” Gonzales said.
For people who want to donate physical supplies, two drop off sites have been set up in the GTA: in Toronto, 2180 Steeles Ave W, Unit 14 — Vivo Event Venue; and in Mississauga, 2225 Erin Mills Pkwy #47 — Golf On Lounge.
The sites are collecting non-perishable food, hygiene products, basic necessities and first aid supplies. More information can be found here.