Miami resident rallies aid for Colombia earthquake victims – NBC 6 South Florida

Juliana Salas was in her grandmother’s house in a town 11 miles south of Cali when the 7.4-magnitude earthquake hit Colombia.

Her grandmother was on the first floor of the home, while Salas was on the second. Her first thought once the rumbling started was to find her grandmother, but before she could rush downstairs, the house was overtaken by the shaking.

“But within seconds, you couldn’t even walk because you were being thrown from side to side,” Salas said.

Once the quake was over, she made sure her grandmother was safe, but then her attention quickly shifted to the people of Cali.

Cali, a city in Colombia, southwest of Bogota, was one of the cities most affected after the earthquake hit on Monday morning.

“So, we are there helping, seeing what can be done, and trying to move through the streets without interfering with the rescue workers’ operations to see how we can help and what we can contribute,” she said.

Salas and some of her friends are working together to raise money to purchase medical equipment and tools to help rescuers who are currently working on liberating trapped civilians under the rubble.

“At the same time, we are currently trying to get donations to those areas that lack access, because—as I mentioned— it is concerning that road transport isn’t an option,” Salas said.

Salas said that the internet continues to be spotty and that it’s hard to access severely affected areas like Cali and Chocó. However, she says people are pitching in to make roads safer and Wi-Fi more accessible to tell loved ones that they are safe and sound.

“We are carrying out this work—heading into the city, venturing into the critical zones— it is shocking to see buildings you used to walk past now riddled with cracks, missing walls and roofs, with some on the verge of collapse,” Salas says as she describes what she has seen as she ventures into Cali to help.

Salas says the number of people believed to be trapped under the rubble continues to grow, and that the best way to help is to donate.

“Right now, we need medical supplies,” Salas said. “We need water, we need clothing, we need all supplies for babies.”

She also said that rescue workers need an extra helping hand, and that some workers are digging through the rubble without helmets or gloves as they search for survivors.

Salas is urging people to donate supplies like flashlights and tools that can give an extra push to help recover victims.

During the day, she and her friends come together and gather the donated items from the day before or buy as much as they can on the day of. Then, once they figure out what they have, they head out to areas still accessible by road.

“It’s not just about delivering donations—we’ve also been able to form human chains and organize distribution points,” Salas said.

There have been times when they have received so many donations that they can distribute help to different areas affected.

Now, Salas said she is working on expanding donation locations to people in Cali, Choco and Buenaventura since most of those areas are inaccessible by road.

“These are cities that are really, really devastated and touched by this earthquake, and they don’t have a way to get through all the donations because the connection to get there is totally collapsed,” Salas said.

She said she is thinking about getting supplies to these cities, possibly by helicopter.

Despite all the devastation around her, Salas says she has hope for the future of her country. She said she is glad to see both the government and locals coming together during this difficult time.

“We’re seeing police helping, evacuating and looking for people, and it’s a feeling that I can’t describe, but it gives you hope,” Salas said. “There’s hope between government and community, and we are all together for the same reason.”