Colombian rescue teams continued sifting through rubble in dozens of communities Tuesday following the powerful earthquake that hit the previous day, the Arab Times reported citing the Associated Press. President Abelardo de la Espriella stated that at least 111 individuals lost their lives while soldiers, emergency workers and civilians formed human chains to clear debris from as many as 1,600 damaged or collapsed buildings. The president, who assumed office the previous Friday, described the disaster as the first major challenge for his administration during a visit to the impacted Choco region.
The epicenter was located near San Jose Del Palmar in one of Colombia’s poorest areas, where access is limited to boats, jungle paths or aircraft, local authorities indicated. In El Cairo, a town of roughly 7,000 residents, officials reported that 80 percent of the community sustained damage, heightening concerns for those in fragile traditional housing. Families turned to online platforms to list more than 2,700 missing persons by Monday evening, according to citizen-run websites mentioned in the reporting.
Dana Carolina Zamora shared a photograph of her missing 60-year-old uncle, farmer Miguel Ángel Zamora, who lived rurally near the epicenter with his dog. «We are afraid. We hope that is not the case, that he is all right and that it is only a communication failure. But we haven’t heard anything from him,» Zamora said. The quake rattled major centers such as Cali, Quibdo and Pereira, where infrastructure including factories suffered structural failures, the Arab Times reported citing the Associated Press.
President de la Espriella announced the deployment of engineers, rescue squads and search dogs along with rental subsidies for displaced residents while assessing conditions in Quibdo. «Choco will never again be the ‘land of the forgotten,’» he said. The Choco region has long faced neglect and conflict from armed groups, compounding the difficulties of the relief operation, according to the president’s assessment.
The United States State Department committed 15.5 million dollars toward emergency shelter, food supplies and additional humanitarian support, according to its announcement. Neighboring Latin American nations similarly pledged assistance as the scale of destruction became clearer. This event follows two devastating earthquakes in Venezuela during late June that claimed over 6,300 lives, leaving many across the Andean region on edge, regional reports indicated.
Colombia is situated along the Pacific Ring of Fire, a tectonic zone responsible for approximately 90 percent of global earthquakes, according to National Geographic. Colombia’s Geological Service determined that the 7.4 magnitude event represented the strongest earthquake recorded in the country this century, Reuters reported. Earlier incidents, such as the 1906 Ecuador-Colombia earthquake of magnitude 8.8 that resulted in 1,500 deaths, underscore the area’s seismic vulnerability, USGS historical data shows.
Mónica Sánchez, who operates a small uniform manufacturing business in hard-hit Pereira, described a wall collapsing at her facility where she and 12 employees narrowly escaped. «It was shocking — the city fell down around us,» Sánchez said. The broader consequences for businesses and long-term recovery were only starting to emerge as officials tallied the full extent of the infrastructure losses, according to accounts from the affected city.
Добавить комментарий