At least 132 killed after magnitude 7.4 earthquake strikes Colombia

At least 132 people were killed Monday after a powerful magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck western Colombia, causing buildings to collapse and triggering large-scale rescue operations across multiple cities.

At least 570 people were also injured, according to the Colombian Association of Capital Cities.

President Abelardo De La Espriella told reporters earlier that the disaster caused damage to 1,575 homes, with 37 completely destroyed, 61 collapsed buildings, 18 damaged health centers, 52 damaged educational centers, 17 damaged community centers and 18 damaged roads.

The Colombian government has declared a national disaster situation to strengthen the mobilization and coordination of institutional capacities to address the emergency.

The earthquake occurred at 7.34 a.m. local time (1234GMT), with the epicenter located approximately 5 kilometers (3.1 miles) east of the town of San Jose del Palmar, according to data from the US Geological Survey. The agency reported that the quake originated at a depth of 107 kilometers (66.5 miles).

A magnitude 5.0 aftershock struck at 8.18 a.m. (1318GMT) approximately 16 kilometers (9.9 miles) west of San Jose del Palmar. The municipality, located in the Choco Department, has a population of around 4,800 and sits 1,288 meters (4,225 feet) above sea level.

Despite the significant strength of the quake, the US Tsunami Warning Center announced that no tsunami is expected for the US states of California, Oregon, Washington or Alaska and also ruled out one hitting the Canadian province of British Columbia.

Colombian authorities said there is no tsunami threat to the Colombian Pacific coast.

“The state is present and taking action,” President De La Espriella said following the quake, confirming that he took direct leadership of the emergency response. He ordered the immediate establishment of a unified command post to coordinate response efforts.

De La Espriella requested a comprehensive report from the director of the National Unit for Disaster Risk Management on the situation in the town, located roughly 240 kilometers (149 miles) west of the capital, Bogota.

The president said he would travel to the city of Pereira to support those affected and monitor the government's response but later said he is heading to Bogota to focus on addressing the emergency.