Buenaventura, Colombia – Sitting in her ruined living room, staring at the damaged kitchen under the harsh midday sun, Lorena Hipis was stunned as she looked at the large chunk of wall eroded and the gaping hole in the roof.
"The whole building collapsed completely, crushing part of my house and flattening my mother's home next door. Four people inside were killed," Hipis said, pointing toward the rubble of the five-story building beside her home.
Monday's powerful 7.4-magnitude earthquake caused severe damage in the port city of Buenaventura, home to 432,000 people on Colombia's Pacific coast. About 287 people died nationwide, including at least 19 in Buenaventura.
Despite housing the country's largest port, residents fear they will be overlooked in the post-disaster rebuilding effort. "The city government, the state government and the national government have not come here yet," Hipis said on Thursday.
In her daughter's bedroom, steel bars dangle from the ceiling, while chunks of concrete and bricks threaten to fall at any moment. Hipis worries the remaining roof will collapse under the weight of debris from the adjacent building.
"The government has reacted too slowly. The situation is urgent," she said, expressing despair as she waits for help to clear the rubble.
Buenaventura is just one of many cities and towns where residents fear official indifference will affect how relief resources are allocated after the deadly quake. They worry that major provincial capitals like Pereira and Cali will receive more attention, while areas with high poverty rates like their own are left behind.
