A powerful earthquake measuring 7.4 in magnitude struck western Colombia on Monday, killing at least 69 people and injuring hundreds more. The tremor caused dozens of buildings to collapse, trapping residents beneath debris and prompting evacuations that reached as far as the capital, Bogota. Rescue teams were deployed overnight to search for survivors in the worst affected towns, and officials warned that the death toll could rise as crews clear rubble in the coming days.

The earthquake's epicenter was located near San Jose del Palmar in the Choco region, roughly 400km west of Bogota. It struck at a depth of 107km. The United States Geological Survey initially recorded the magnitude at 6.6 before revising it upward to 7.4 as further data came in. No tsunami warning was issued despite the quake's proximity to Colombia's Pacific coastline.

The heaviest losses were recorded in Cali, capital of the Valle del Cauca department, where 25 buildings collapsed and 27 people were confirmed dead. Emergency services in the city worked through the night to reach residents trapped in the wreckage of apartment blocks and commercial premises, many of which crumbled within seconds of the initial shaking.

In the Eje Cafetero, Colombia's coffee-growing heartland and a popular destination for domestic and foreign tourists, the toll was also severe. Eighteen people died in Pereira, where several residential buildings were reduced to rubble, and two further deaths were recorded in nearby Manizales. Local hospitals in both cities reported treating dozens of patients for crush injuries and fractures.

Choco itself, home to the earthquake's epicenter, suffered extensive structural damage. The regional capital, Quibdo, recorded numerous injuries as homes and public buildings were damaged by the shaking. Departmental authorities expressed concern over the risk of aftershocks in the area, warning residents to remain outside damaged structures and avoid returning to buildings that had not been inspected.

Further east, in Medellin, the country's second largest city, the earthquake set off evacuation sirens and sent residents pouring into the streets in the middle of the night. The city's metro system was suspended so engineers could carry out structural safety checks on stations and elevated track sections. Medellin recorded no fatalities and no full building collapses, though several outlying neighbourhoods reported caved-in roofs and fractured walls, particularly in older housing stock.

Bogota, some distance from the epicenter, experienced the earthquake mainly through panic rather than destruction. Car alarms sounded across the city as the tremor passed, and many residents left their homes and offices as a precaution. City authorities later confirmed that damage in the capital was limited to superficial cracking in a small number of buildings, with no injuries reported. Bogota's mayor said the city would direct emergency personnel and equipment toward the harder hit regions in the west rather than retain them locally, given the scale of destruction there compared with the capital.

Monday's earthquake comes at a difficult moment for seismic activity in South America. Just weeks earlier, in late June, Venezuela was struck by two catastrophic earthquakes measuring 7.2 and 7.5 in magnitude, which together killed thousands of people and left large parts of the country's infrastructure in ruins. Taken together, the two events mark one of the deadliest and most concentrated periods of seismic activity the region has experienced in recent memory.

Colombian officials have not yet given a timeline for when full damage assessments will be complete. Search and rescue operations remained ongoing in Cali, Pereira and Quibdo as of Tuesday morning, with military units assisting civilian emergency crews in clearing collapsed structures and reaching residents still unaccounted for.

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