Overview
- A magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck Monday, August 10, 2026, with an epicenter near San José del Palmar and an estimated depth of about 96 kilometres, producing strong shaking felt from the Pacific coast to Bogotá.
- Official casualty figures remain provisional and have risen since initial government counts; multiple sources report well over 130 deaths and several reports indicate 200-plus fatalities with many people still missing under rubble.
- Search-and-rescue operations continue but are hampered by broken roads, intermittent phone and mobile networks, insufficient specialised teams and overwhelmed hospitals treating large numbers of injured patients.
- The national government declared a state of disaster, mobilised military and emergency units, imposed curfews and restricted movement in some cities, and has begun coordinating large international offers of assistance including a US pledge of $15.5 million and multilateral proposals exceeding $1.3 billion.
- The quake struck poor, remote and mountainous areas such as Chocó and parts of the coffee-growing region, exposing deep territorial inequalities that will shape immediate relief needs and the longer reconstruction challenge.