Colombia Quake Toll Rises to Around 294
The death toll from Colombia’s earthquake rose to about 294, the national disaster agency said, up from 281 in the morning, with roughly 400 people still missing and more than 12,000 homes destroyed. Hopes of finding survivors have all but gone as the operation shifts fully to recovery. Officials have warned of a years-long rebuilding effort.
Colombia’s strongest quake in a century, which struck near San José del Palmar on Monday and levelled parts of Cali, has climbed steadily in its toll as crews reach communities cut off by landslides, and the hundreds still unaccounted for mean it is likely to rise further. With the survival window long past, the focus turns to housing tens of thousands left homeless and to a reconstruction bill that will burden a government only weeks in office. The scale of ruin in an impoverished, mountainous region points to a recovery measured in years. International aid continues to flow in. That two powerful earthquakes, in Colombia and now Indonesia, have struck within days is a stark reminder of the planet’s seismic violence. Watch for the final count and how the rebuilding is funded.