The earthquake prompted evacuations as far away as Bogot\u00e1. Witnesses reported feeling the shaking across the capital and all the way to the coast in Barranquilla, as well as in Ecuador to the south. About 10.5 million people experienced strong to very strong shaking, according to USGS.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“The quake was very, very strong,” Valeria Polo, a 29-year-old content creator in Bogot\u00e1, told the Agence France-Presse news agency.<\/p>\n
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A 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck western Colombia on Monday, Aug. 10, 2026. A 5.0-magnitude aftershock was also reported.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Nikki Nolan \/ CBS News<\/p>\n
The quake left cities, including Cali, Manizales, Pereira and Quibd\u00f3, ravaged. A mix of residents and search teams picked through the rubble of collapsed buildings. Colombia’s interior minister said more than 20 municipalities across the country had been hit.<\/p>\n
Over a dozen buildings and more than 20 homes were partially or totally destroyed in Manizales, Mayor Jorge Eduardo Rojas said in\u00a0a video<\/a>\u00a0posted on social media. Images showed one of the towers of the city’s neo-Gothic cathedral had\u00a0collapsed<\/a>\u00a0and fallen on the nave.<\/p>\n In Cali, a city of 2 million people,\u00a0Mayor Alejandro Eder said<\/a> residents were trapped in at least 20 buildings that had collapsed.<\/p>\n Jorge Moncayo, a 64-year-old taxi driver in Cali, said he saw plumes of dust shoot up across the city from his home.<\/p>\n “My entire house shook,” he said. “I’ve never lived through such a powerful earthquake.”<\/p>\n A man leaves an apartment building after an earthquake struck Cali, Colombia, on Monday, Aug. 10, 2026.\u00a0<\/p>\n Santiago Saldarriaga \/ AP<\/p>\n In Pereira, photos and videos<\/a> published by local media showed pieces of the airport ceiling falling down on travelers taking shelter and screaming, and people running through rubble in a panic.<\/p>\n Flights were suspended at multiple airports, including in Pereira, Manizales, Armenia, Cartago and Buenaventura, Colombia’s aviation agency said.<\/p>\n In Armenia, several people have been evacuated from their homes over structural damage fears.<\/p>\n No structural damage was reported in Bogot\u00e1,\u00a0Mayor Carlos F. Gal\u00e1n said<\/a>.<\/p>\n Colombian President Abelardo de la Espriella said in\u00a0a social media post<\/a>\u00a0that he is leading the emergency response and will travel to the quake zone.<\/p>\n One of the towers of the neo-Gothic cathedral in Manizales, Colombia, collapsed after a strong earthquake struck the region on Aug. 10, 2026.<\/p>\n Jonh Bonilla \/ AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a social media post<\/a> on Monday that the Trump administration was closely monitoring the earthquake and “stands ready to support the people of Colombia.”<\/p>\n Colombia’s Geological Service said Monday’s seismic activity was “the highest magnitude earthquake registered in Colombia in the last decade.”<\/p>\n The country lies along the “Ring of Fire,” the line of seismic faults encircling the Pacific Ocean where most of the world’s earthquakes occur.<\/p>\n The area where Monday’s quake hit, Colombia’s coffee region, was devastated by an\u00a0earthquake in 1999<\/a>\u00a0that killed more than 1,200 people.<\/p>\n The earthquake in Colombia follows two back-to-back 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude quakes that struck neighboring Venezuela<\/a> in late June, which caused widespread damage<\/a> and killed more than 5,000 people.<\/p>\n Colombia sits where multiple tectonic plates meet.\u00a0<\/p>\n Nikki Nolan \/ CBS News<\/p>\n This is a developing story. Check back for updates.<\/p>\n Luis Giraldo<\/p>\n contributed to this report.\n <\/p>\n \n More from CBS News\n <\/p>\n \n Go deeper with The Free Press\n <\/p>\n![\"ap26222487643188.jpg](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/ap26222487643188.jpg#.jpeg\")
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