Source : INDIA TODAY NEWS
Rescue teams, soldiers and families searched through rubble across western Colombia on Tuesday in the hope of finding survivors after a 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck on Monday. President Abelardo de la Espriella said at least 181 people were killed, around 2,595 were injured and 195 remained missing, while civilian-run databases suggested the number of missing could be as high as 3,800.
The president also said 1,136 homes were destroyed and many more were damaged. Authorities said most of the deaths were reported in Cali, Pereira, Manizales and Quibdo, but local leaders and families said there was still very little information from rural areas, where there were fears of more casualties and damage.
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In Pereira, soldiers, rescue workers and relatives passed large pieces of concrete by hand along lines of volunteers. Standing near the ruins of his brother’s collapsed apartment building, Jairo Vargas said he had driven 220 kilometres from Medellin hoping to find him alive. “I’m absolutely certain he’s here. Absolutely certain,” Vargas said, adding that his brother’s car was still parked outside. But he also said he feared his sibling had not survived. “The debris surrounding my brother is soft,” he said, as heavy machinery moved through the site. “It’s possible that it’s protecting him, but we can’t hear any noises anymore. I don’t know. I have little hope.”
The disaster is the first major test for de la Espriella, who took office only days before the quake. The challenge was especially clear in Choco, the poor and long-neglected region around the epicentre, where many places can only be reached by boat, through the jungle or by aeroplane. Sterling Palacios, a religious and environmental leader, said the capital of Choco had been devastated along with smaller communities along the Atrato River. Homes had been reduced to rubble and aftershocks had forced many residents to sleep in the streets. “There are towns where people have lost everything, where people have died, where homes have been destroyed,” he said. “We don’t have a full panorama of the damage, but we know it’s been massive.”
De la Espriella travelled to Quibdo in Choco on Monday night and said he was mobilising “the entire military and police apparatus”, along with engineers, rescue workers and search dogs. “Choco will never again be the land of the forgotten,” he said. Palacios, however, said the response had so far been “concentrated in the capital”, with wounded people flown from Quibdo to Medellin for treatment. He said the biggest challenge remained remote towns that could only be reached by boat after journeys lasting hours or even days. He added that armed groups fighting for control in the region were also complicating access, and that it could take weeks to understand the full scale of the devastation. “It’s a risk, and it’s very difficult to predict what could happen,” he said.
Families also turned to citizen-run websites to post details of missing relatives. Dana Carolina Zamora shared a photograph of her missing 60-year-old uncle, Miguel ngel Zamora, holding his dog. He lived in a rural part of El Cairo, near the quake’s epicentre in San Jose Del Palmar. Local authorities said 80 per cent of the town, which has about 7,000 people, was damaged. Zamora said her uncle lived in a traditional house made of sticks and mud. “We are afraid. We hope that is not the case, that he is all right and that it is only a communication failure. But we haven’t heard anything from him,” she said.
The earthquake also came weeks after back-to-back quakes in neighbouring Venezuela in late June that destroyed hundreds of buildings and killed more than 6,300 people. In Pereira, one of the worst-hit cities, Mónica Snchez said a wall inside the factory run by her small company collapsed, but she and her 12 workers managed to get out in time. “It was shocking – the city fell down around us,” she said. Pereira’s municipal government said at least 58 buildings had collapsed, while Cali Mayor Alejandro Eder said at least 40 buildings had come down. Both cities imposed curfews on Monday night to prevent looting, and Pereira also banned privately owned vehicles to clear the roads for ambulances, police and rescue teams.
The US State Department said it would provide USD 15.5 million for emergency shelter, food and other aid, while governments across Latin America also offered help. Pereira Mayor Mauricio Salazar told local media, “This has been a tragedy for the whole city, for thousands of families. But here we are, and we will continue forward with the hand of God.” As search operations continued, officials and residents were still trying to assess the full damage, especially in rural areas where information remained limited.
With PTI Inputs
– Ends
SOURCE :- TIMES OF INDIA
