The hasty escape while everything continues to shake for a time that seems to never end. In a video published on Tiktok you can see one of the most incredible scenes of the 7.4 magnitude earthquake that hit western Colombia.
Sharing moments of fear on social media here is the Castellanos family who lives in Pereira not far from the epicenter of the earthquake. The images document the escape from the house while the earthquake was in progress. One of the family members reaches outside in shorts and bare feet.
“Only God knows what we felt.” A second video shot after the earthquake shows the consequences on the house: a part of the external wall collapsed, with bricks and rubble falling to the ground, while other damage to the structure is visible. Scenes that give the measure of the violence with which the earthquake was felt by the population.
The 7.4 magnitude earthquake in Colombia
The main shock was recorded at 7:34 am on Monday 10 August, local time, with its epicenter in the territory of San José del Palmar, in the Chocó department, in western Colombia. The Colombian Geological Service calculated a magnitude of 7.4 and a depth of 103 kilometers. It was the largest magnitude earthquake recorded in the country in the 21st century.
Despite the considerable depth of the hypocentre, the large amount of energy released meant that the earthquake was felt across a very large area: the tremor was also felt in Panama and Venezuela.
The origin of the earthquake is linked to the complex tectonics of the Colombian Pacific coast, where the Nazca plate sinks beneath the South American plate. The Colombian Geological Service warned that the seismic swarm could continue for days or weeks.
The toll continues to rise
The situation in the affected areas remains very serious. The latest update speaks of at least 164 deaths, with rescue teams still busy searching for people left under the rubble. Cali and Pereira were particularly affected, where buildings collapsed and hospitals and other infrastructure were damaged.
Earthquake in Colombia: buildings and hospitals collapsed. Mother and newborn baby saved from the rubble