A strong 7.4 magnitude earthquake struck western Colombia on Monday, killing at least 111 people, injuring at least 87 and causing significant damage across the region. It was the largest earthquake recorded in the South American country. The epicenter was in San José del Palmar, a community in the rural province of Chocó, about 250 miles west of Colombia’s capital, Bogotá, the US Geological Survey and its counterpart in Colombia reported. The earthquake struck around 8:34 a.m. ET and was followed by a magnitude 5.0 aftershock less than an hour later, the USGS reported. “You are not alone,” Colombian President Abelardo de la Espriella said in a video message. “Colombia has a president who cares about the people and will do everything in his power to help them in the most difficult moments.” Rescuers and residents search through the rubble after an earthquake hit Cali, Colombia, on August 10, 2026. AP Photo/Santiago Saldarriaga Most of the deaths were reported in provinces neighboring Chocó, including at least 40 in the Risaralda region, where the hardest-hit city of Pereira is located, and 27 in the Valle del Cauca region, where Colombia’s third-largest city, Cali, is located. Governor of Chocó, Nubia Carolina Córdoba-Curi said on social media that at least 12 people had died in her province. Four deaths were reported in the city of Manizales in the Caldas region. A 73-year-old man died in the province of Antioquia, the governor reported. A magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck western Colombia on Monday, August 10, 2026. A magnitude 5.0 aftershock was also reported. Nikki Nolan / CBS News The earthquake caused evacuations as far away as Bogotá. Witnesses reported that they felt the tremor in the capital and up to the coast in Barranquilla, as well as in southern Ecuador. According to the USGS, about 10.5 million people experienced strong or very strong shaking. “The earthquake was very, very strong,” Valeria Polo, a 29-year-old content creator in Bogotá, told the Agence France-Presse news agency. People search for survivors among the rubble of a collapsed building in Cali, Colombia, after an earthquake on August 10, 2026. Joaquín Sarmiento/AFP via Getty Images The earthquake left cities, including Cali, Manizales, Pereira and Quibdó, devastated with a mix of residents and search teams sifting through the rubble of collapsed buildings. More than 20 municipalities across the country were affected and hundreds of buildings were damaged, officials said. In Cali, a city of 2 million people, there were 30 collapsed structures, Mayor Alejandro Eder said on social media. Eder urged residents to remain calm and report any damage as soon as possible. Jorge Moncayo, a 64-year-old taxi driver in Cali, said he saw plumes of dust rising throughout the city from his home. “My whole house shook,” he said. “I have never experienced such a powerful earthquake.” Rescuers search for survivors in a collapsed building after an earthquake in Pereira, Colombia, on August 10, 2026. Roberto Betancourt/AFP via Getty Images Pereira Mayor Mauricio Salazar told a local radio station that at least 18 people had died in the city and that many more were trapped under “a massive number of collapsed buildings.” At Pereira airport, videos showed pieces of the roof falling on screaming travelers taking shelter, and people running through the rubble in panic. The mayor of Manizales, Jorge Eduardo Rojas, said on social media that 17 buildings in the city collapsed and 19 partially collapsed. Images showed that one of the towers of the city’s neo-Gothic cathedral had collapsed and fallen onto the nave. Flights were suspended at several airports, including Pereira, Manizales, Armenia, Cartago and Buenaventura, Colombia’s aviation agency said. In Armenia, several people have been evacuated from their homes for fear of structural damage. No structural damage was reported in Bogotá, said Mayor Carlos F. Galán. One of the towers of the neo-Gothic cathedral in Manizales, Colombia, collapsed after a strong earthquake hit the region on August 10, 2026. Jonh Bonilla/AFP via Getty Images US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a social media post on Monday that the Trump administration was closely monitoring the earthquake and “stands ready to support the people of Colombia.” South Florida organizations are among U.S.-based humanitarian groups moving to send aid to Colombia. “There is a lot of damage and we are waiting for information on what the needs are. The first is rescue and recovery,” Fabio Andrade, Weston city commissioner and a Colombian-American, told CBS Miami. Monday’s earthquake was the strongest to hit Colombia since records began in the early 1920s. The country lies along the “Ring of Fire,” the line of seismic faults surrounding the Pacific Ocean, where most of the world’s earthquakes occur. The area where the earthquake occurred, the coffee region of Colombia, was devastated by an earthquake in 1999 that killed more than 1,200 people. The seismic activity in Colombia also follows two consecutive earthquakes of magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 that struck neighboring Venezuela in late June, causing widespread damage and killing more than 5,000 people. Colombia is located where multiple tectonic plates meet. Nikki Nolan / CBS News Lilia Luciano, Nikki Nolan and Luis Giraldo contributed to this report. More from CBS News Go deeper with The Free Press in:
