{"id":406779,"date":"2026-08-14T21:04:07","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T21:04:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/406779\/"},"modified":"2026-08-14T21:04:07","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T21:04:07","slug":"texans-helping-colombia-after-earthquake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/406779\/","title":{"rendered":"Texans helping Colombia after earthquake"},"content":{"rendered":"

TEXAS \u2014 A 7.4 magnitude earthquake struck Colombia Monday morning, affecting several cities. As of Friday, there are at least 250 people dead from the earthquake, with hundreds still missing and thousands injured.<\/p>\n

Colombians living in Texas, like Ricardo Alvarado, say it was difficult to wake up to news of the earthquake on Monday morning.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was very frustrating, a lot of fear, not knowing what happened to your family,\u201d he said. \u201cCousins, uncles, a lot of my family that we still have [there] live in the cities that were most impacted by the earthquake, Cali and Pereira.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alvarado is originally from Pereira, Colombia. He said he is thankful his family is okay, but he knows others were not as fortunate.<\/p>\n

As owner of the Super Latino Market<\/a> in North Austin, Alvarado set up a donation drive a day after the earthquake struck.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like to characterize myself as someone who likes to help. When I was a kid in school and the first earthquake hit Pereira, we went to help by bringing water and clearing out debris,\u201d he said, thinking back to when he was growing up in Colombia.<\/p>\n

Having lived in Texas for the last 10 years, his way of helping looks different.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince you can\u2019t physically be there, send people the most you can collect here with your compatriots and on your own,\u201d Alvarado\u00a0said.<\/p>\n

The store is collecting items like medicines, batteries, lanterns, clothes and bottled water.<\/p>\n

\u201cLanterns, that\u2019s what they\u2019re requiring most,\u201d Alvarado said.<\/p>\n

Alvarado also touched on the need for long-term rebuilding, especially for areas of the country like Choc\u00f3, a poor region of Colombia.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe understand that a lot of people are collaborating, and I hope they know that this zone needs a lot of help,\u201d he said. \u201cNot just now [right after] the disaster, but also afterwards. The first hours are crucial with the rescues, but there\u2019s also the victims, the people with no home that were left with nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some organizations in Texas with a presence in Colombia are focusing their efforts on long-term growth. Conviventia<\/a>, a nonprofit with a presence in Colombia and Houston, says they are focusing on the long-term plan of helping Choc\u00f3 beyond immediate disaster relief.<\/p>\n

Alvarado said his store has already collected 30 boxes of supplies with hopes to send them to Houston for export to Colombia on Thursday, Aug. 20. He said he needs extra hands to help organize the supplies.<\/p>\n

As supplies come through the doors, Alvarado keeps a strong face, but he said it\u2019s difficult being so far away from his native country, which is experiencing severe damage and loss.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut we\u2019re doing what we can, and we can hope that the help we collect can benefit them, those who need it,\u201d said Alvarado.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TEXAS \u2014 A 7.4 magnitude earthquake struck Colombia Monday morning, affecting several cities. As of Friday, there are…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":406780,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[12926,14209,65180,132,134,133,1570,102,138,14210,223,82,27,26986,1569,835],"class_list":["post-406779","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-andres-rendon","tag-app-human-interest","tag-app-latest-human-interest-stories","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news","tag-ctv","tag-dallas","tag-el-paso","tag-human-interest","tag-news","tag-san-antonio","tag-texas","tag-texas-editors-picks","tag-texas-what-you-need-to-know","tag-vod"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406779","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=406779"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406779\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/406780"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=406779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=406779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=406779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}