The Earthquake in Colombia Leaves at Least 111 Dead
According to newly inaugurated president de la Espriella
De la Espriella added that 18 highways and seven airports were affected by the earthquake.
HAVANA TIMES – Colombian President Abelardo de la Espriella said that the 7.4-magnitude earthquake that struck much of the country on Monday has left a preliminary death toll of 111 people and caused widespread destruction in at least five departments.
“As of 12:30 p.m. (5:30 p.m. GMT), we had 111 fatalities, 87 injured, 1,575 damaged homes, 37 completely destroyed homes, 61 collapsed buildings, 18 damaged health centers, and 52 damaged educational facilities,” De la Espriella said in Bogotá during his first public statement following the earthquake, in which he declared a “national disaster” across the country.
The president added that 18 highways were damaged by the quake, along with seven airports—Pereira, Manizales, Quibdó, Armenia, Cartago, Cali, and Buenaventura—which suffered infrastructure damage and remain closed to commercial flights.
De la Espriella is scheduled to travel this afternoon to Quibdó, the capital of the Chocó department, where the earthquake’s epicenter was located, to personally oversee the emergency response. Meanwhile, other members of his cabinet will travel to the Valle del Cauca department and the Coffee Region, the areas hardest hit by the earthquake.
“Our first priority is rescuing the people who remain trapped beneath the rubble. That is the priority,” the president said. He is in just his third day in office after taking office last Friday, August 7.
The earthquake, measured at magnitude 7.4 by the Colombian Geological Service (SGC), struck at 7:34 a.m. local time (12:34 GMT). Its epicenter was located in the municipality of San José del Palmar, in the Chocó department, at a depth of 82 kilometers (51 miles), causing damage across much of central and western Colombia.