Cali, Colombia – A day after a powerful 7.4-magnitude earthquake shook western Colombia, rescue teams are still racing against time to find survivors and recover bodies from the wreckage of collapsed buildings.
Government figures show the quake has killed at least 254 people nationwide, with the hardest-hit areas being the cities of Pereira and Cali.
Luis Saenz, a 22-year-old journalism student living in Cali, recalled: "For me, the quake felt like it lasted forever." He was at home enjoying his morning coffee when the tremor struck at 7:34 a.m. local time on Monday. He remembers his cat darting under the bed, followed by the chaos of his family running into the streets.
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, about 5,000 homes have been damaged, while dozens of buildings—many of them residential—have completely collapsed.
In Cali, Colombia's third-largest city, at least 95 people have died and 45 structures have collapsed or been severely damaged, according to local authorities.
Resident Maria Isabel Cumbal, watching rescue operations at the Vanessa building in the south of the city, said tearfully: "I never thought I'd see my city like this." The seven-story apartment block was destroyed during Monday's quake.
Rescuers with hammers, shovels, and heavy machinery are trying to cut through thick concrete slabs to reach about 20 people trapped beneath. Hundreds of volunteers formed human chains, passing buckets of debris from the rubble to trucks. Occasionally, a rescuer would raise a fist to call for silence, listening for any signs of life.
