‘Lot of sadness:’ FSU grad student returns after relief mission to earthquake-ravaged Colombia

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) – A Florida State University graduate student is back on campus after a whirlwind trip to Colombia.

WCTV first met with neuroscience student Inge Guerrero last week, just days after the powerful 7.4 magnitude earthquake struck Colombia. She has cousins who lost their homes, jobs, or both.

Guerrero had raised several thousand dollars through a GoFundMe campaign, and was also gathering basic items and medical supplies for a doctor friend down there.

She met with WCTV again Thursday to share how the trip went.

“I wanted to go to see my family, but the airport in that area was destroyed, so I couldn’t go to see them,” she said.

It became clear she could make a difficult journey to see family, but have little time to lend a helping hand.

Instead, she said, she worked with friends elsewhere to pack helicopters and trucks full of donations.

“The donations and everything that we were doing, it was to take it to the smaller towns, to the people who are in the countryside,” she said. “The first day I walked for like maybe two hours just to see the demolition there. And it definitely inspires you.”

Two things became clear right away according to Guerrero.

One, the grief was present everywhere in the hardest-hit areas.

“It is very different to be there in person, to smell, to see like the people who were just around, just waiting for their bodies of their family members to be collected, you know. And there was a lot of sadness. It was a lot,” she recalled.

But two–she was impressed with Colombia’s resilience in the face of tragedy, and the ability to work together as a team to help strangers.

While Guerrero said she couldn’t connect with family in person, she did deliver the money raised from donations.

She said that helped provide food and supplies for 40 people in her family’s community.

“I am absolutely so grateful with the community here in Tallahassee, at FSU as well,” she said. “My professors, people that I have interacted with, when I send the link for GoFundMe, they have helped tremendously.”

In addition to her campaign, she suggested anyone willing to donate do so to groups including the Colombian Red Cross, UNICEF, and United Way Colombia.

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