Colombia Earthquake Death Toll Surpasses 250; Rescue Teams Race Against Time in Cali, Pereira

Bogota: Rescue workers in Colombia are digging through collapsed buildings for a second consecutive day, searching for survivors after a magnitude 7.4 earthquake tore through the region, killing at least 254 people and leaving hundreds more unaccounted for.

The quake struck at 7.34 am local time on Monday, its epicentre in the western coffee-growing belt of the country. The cities of Cali and Pereira have borne the brunt of the destruction, with government figures putting the nationwide death toll at 254, though separate reports from rescue agencies place confirmed fatalities at 240, with roughly 3,000 people still missing. It is being described as Colombia's deadliest earthquake since a 1999 tremor that killed more than 1,000 people in the same region.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said close to 5,000 homes have sustained damage, with dozens of structures, many of them residential blocks, collapsing entirely. In Cali alone, at least 95 deaths have been confirmed, and roughly 40 buildings have collapsed fully or partially. Authorities in Pereira, located about 130 miles north of Cali, have confirmed at least 66 deaths, with dozens more feared trapped beneath approximately 58 collapsed structures.

This handout picture released by the Colombian Presidency press office shows Colombia's President Abelardo de la Espriella (C) speaking with rescuers walking down a street after an earthquake in Pereira, Colombia on August 11, 2026.(Photo | AFP)

Pereira's mayor, Mauricio Salazar, broke down while addressing reporters on the scale of the devastation. "Pereira is living through a historic and tough situation," he said, his voice faltering as he spoke of hospitals overwhelmed by the influx of the injured.

Among the worst-hit sites is the seven-storey Vanessa Building in southern Cali, which crumbled in the quake and fell onto an adjoining structure that housed a nursery run by a local Adventist church. Volunteers estimate around 20 people remain trapped beneath the wreckage of the apartment block, along with roughly 17 children from the nursery.

Meanwhile, Al Jazeera reported that Maximiliano Herrera, a 32-year-old church member coordinating volunteers at the site, said two of the trapped children, identified as Samuel and Sara, have shown signs of life but are lodged in a section of the debris that is proving extremely difficult to reach. "It's very sad to know that the kids of friends and acquaintances are most likely under here," he told Al Jazeera.

Rescue crews using hammers, shovels and donated construction machinery have been working through the night without rest, pausing periodically to listen for signs of survivors. Firefighters in Cali pulled a 35-year-old unidentified man alive from the rubble in the early hours of Tuesday, nearly a day after the quake struck, while a 31-year-old woman, Diana Troncoso, was freed after a 16-hour rescue operation that drew applause from onlookers, The Guardian reported. Her father, Alvaro Troncoso Torres, called her survival "a miracle" while talking to the local newspaper El Pais.

Firefighters and rescue teams carry survivor Daniela Andrea Largo Sanchez out of the rubble of a collapsed building after an earthquake in Pereira, Colombia on August 11, 2026.(Photo | AFP)

Civilians are also reported to have pulled several people from the ruins of a partially collapsed hotel in the city.

The disaster has emerged as the first major test for President Abelardo de la Espriella, who was sworn in in Cali last Friday, less than three days before the earthquake struck. He declared a state of emergency soon after and has since visited the affected regions, including Choco, Pereira and Cali as relief operations continue.

Cali mayor Alejandro Eder said 37 people had been pulled alive from collapsed buildings in the city, while more than 1,000 troops are being deployed nationwide to prevent chaos and maintain order amid concerns over looting. A curfew running from 8 pm to 6 am has been imposed in Cali, with exemptions for emergency and medical personnel.