{"id":590669,"date":"2026-08-12T05:24:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T05:24:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/590669\/"},"modified":"2026-08-12T05:24:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T05:24:13","slug":"rescue-efforts-continue-in-colombia-as-earthquake-death-toll-reaches-at-least-250-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/590669\/","title":{"rendered":"Rescue efforts continue in Colombia as earthquake death toll reaches at least 250 \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rescue crews on Tuesday dug through \u200cmountains of rubble in western Colombia<\/a>, shouting for quiet so they could listen for survivors still trapped under the buildings collapsed in a powerful earthquake estimated to have killed at least 250 people.<\/p>\n

Families waited beside the rubble for signs of life. <\/p>\n

The 7.4-magnitude quake, the most devastating to \u200bstrike Colombia this century, tore through its coffee-growing heartland early on Monday, leaving apartment blocks, homes, schools and health centres cracked, leaning or flattened.<\/p>\n

Separate reports from affected cities put the death toll at 254 on Tuesday morning, with 101 people killed in Pereira, deep in coffee country, and 95 in Cali, the country\u2019s third-biggest city.<\/p>\n

The South American country\u2019s president, Abelardo de la Espriella, said around 2,595 were injured, while at least 195 remained missing.<\/p>\n

Many Indigenous communities in the forested Pacific-facing region of Choco close to the quake epicentre are still without power or basic services, complicating rescue efforts.<\/p>\n

The earthquake struck \u200bjust days after the inauguration of de la Espriella, who travelled to the affected regions and promised economic support to people who lost their homes.<\/p>\n

The National Coffee Federation was working on the ground with families to assess damage to \u2060farms and rural infrastructure, its chief German Bahamon said on social media.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe 7.4-magnitude earthquake is the most powerful to hit Colombia in decades. <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, rescuers worked through Monday night and Tuesday with cranes, excavators and their bare hands, creating human chains \u200cand \u200cpassing \u200bbuckets filled with debris as they searched for people still trapped.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe \u200bare … focused on the immediate task of saving lives, guaranteeing the arrival of rescue teams, bringing in medical supplies and field hospitals,\u201d interior minister Rodrigo Lara told Blu Radio.<\/p>\n

The United Nations<\/a> humanitarian \u2060office OCHA said almost 5,000 homes were damaged, while dozens of buildings collapsed and hundreds of residences were destroyed.<\/p>\n

In Cali, residents gathered in the streets after parts \u200bof homes and apartment blocks gave way. Families cooked outside, salvaged what they \u200bcould and braced for another day away from home.<\/p>\n

Several of the top floors of one of the city\u2019s hospitals \u2013 some dedicated to paediatric care \u2013 collapsed, \u200cleaving some patients trapped and 600 others tended to on \u200ba street strewn with rubble, Irne Torres Castro, the hospital\u2019s director, told Caracol Television.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Irish in earthquake-hit Colombia: \u2018Everything started shaking\u2019Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

In Pereira, one of the cities hit hardest, whole sections \u2060of residential neighbourhoods were reduced to broken slabs of concrete and \u2060exposed rooms.<\/p>\n

Residents and volunteers \u200bformed human chains, while others stood silently nearby, listening for tapping sounds or cries from below.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve already pulled several people out, some alive and some dead. I still can\u2019t believe it \u2013 yesterday at this same time I said hello to them and today they\u2019re gone. It\u2019s very painful,\u201d said Fernanda Gaviria (33), speaking from a grocery shop opposite a collapsed building.<\/p>\n

\"PeoplePeople and rescuers search for victims in the debris of a collapsed building in Pereira, Colombia. Photograph: Gabriel Aponte\/Getty Images \"FirstFirst responders walk down a rubble-strewn street in Pereira, Colombia. Photograph: Juan Arredondo\/New York Times<\/p>\n

Gaviria said she spent the night sleeping in a park after her own apartment building was badly damaged.<\/p>\n

The earthquake also knocked out vital infrastructure. Civil aviation authorities closed six airports \u2013 Quibdo, Pereira, Manizales, Armenia, Cartago and Buenaventura \u2013 due to damage, while dozens of roads were reported to be affected.<\/p>\n

Electricity, water, healthcare and \u200cphone service remained disrupted in several areas, \u2060especially in Choco near the epicentre, complicating rescue efforts and aid delivery.<\/p>\n

Authorities activated command centres as emergency workers, volunteers and humanitarian agencies rushed in shelter supplies, drinking water, hygiene kits, food and medical support.<\/p>\n

International assistance was beginning to arrive. The United States<\/a> \u200csaid it had allocated $15.5 million (\u20ac13.4 million) for emergency shelter, food, protection and damage assessments, while the Inter-American Development Bank said it had made $50 million immediately available for reconstruction support if requested \u200bby the government.<\/p>\n

With communications still patchy in some of the worst-hit areas, officials said the full extent of \u200bthe damage and the final death toll could take days to establish. \u2013 Reuters\/PA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rescue crews on Tuesday dug through \u200cmountains of rubble in western Colombia, shouting for quiet so they could…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":590670,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[9151,42,43,40,38,41,39,115,23242],"class_list":["post-590669","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-colombia","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-united-states","tag-united-nations-un"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/590669","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=590669"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/590669\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/590670"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=590669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=590669"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=590669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}