Colombia Earthquake Kills Hundreds, Hundreds Still Missing

Rescuers in Colombia continued searching for survivors trapped under rubble on Friday, four days after a powerful earthquake struck the Andean nation.

In Cali, Colombia's third-largest city, rescue workers detected sounds from a collapsed residential block. The earthquake, which hit on Monday, left at least 285 people dead and 4,000 injured, with approximately 380 to 400 people still missing. Tens of thousands of homes were damaged, forcing many Colombians to sleep in shelters or outdoors. The 7.4-magnitude quake, with its epicenter in the Chocó department, occurred just days after Abelardo de la Espriella was inaugurated as president.

The government mobilized state resources and relied on local communities for immediate disaster relief. An Israeli rescue team arrived in Colombia following the earthquake. In comparison, earthquakes in Venezuela weeks prior, with magnitudes of 7.2 and 7.5, resulted in a national death toll of 6,300 people, with rescue efforts there described as hampered by confusion, lack of equipment, and delayed orders.

Venezuelan civilians toiled with little support at a flattened apartment block, while in Colombia, official entities coordinated the response. The Colombia quake struck deeper than the Venezuelan tremors, and soil instability and tremor shallowness contributed to the toll in Venezuela.