Friday 14 / August / 2026
Bogota: The death toll from Monday's 7.4-magnitude earthquake in Colombia has risen to 273, David Tamayo, director of the National Unit for Disaster Risk Management, said on Thursday.
"We have the report of 40,753 affected families, 97,515 affected people and 273 deaths. Of those 273 deaths, 250 bodies have arrived at Legal Medicine, 227 have been identified and 189 have been handed over to their families," Tamayo told a press conference.
He also said the quake left 3,824 people injured and 377 missing.
In terms of infrastructure, Tamayo said 12,584 homes had been destroyed and 74,873 damaged. He also said that the earthquake caused 172 buildings to collapse and affected 2,198 schools and educational institutions, 825 community centres, 216 health centers and five airports.
Colombia is using satellite technology and high-resolution images to monitor the damage caused by the earthquake.
On the ground, search and rescue teams continued working with rescue dogs to locate missing people under the rubble.
The Colombian Geological Service said a new 4.2-magnitude tremor was recorded on Thursday at 9:42 a.m. local time (1442 GMT) in San Jose del Palmar, in the northwestern department of Choco, which was the epicentre of Monday's earthquake.
