Colombia vows to find all missing quake victims as rescue hopes fade

Cali - Colombia’s disaster relief chief vowed to find the hundreds of people still missing after a massive earthquake, as rescuers dug through rubble early on Aug 14 following the end of a critical life-saving period.

The strongest quake to hit Colombia this century devastated the western cities of Cali and Pereira and destroyed nearly 13,000 homes across the coffee-growing region and along the coast.

The 7.4-magnitude tremor struck on Aug 10, killing 281 people and injuring almost 4,000, President Abelardo de la Espriella told reporters, while 379 others remained missing.

Rescuers had little hope of finding more survivors, who are typically saved in the first 72 hours after an earthquake.

David Tamayo, head of Colombia’s disaster relief agency, acknowledged that the “likelihood of finding survivors is going to diminish”.

“But our commitment is to never stop searching... The order is to not rest until we find all the missing persons,” he said in a video posted by his agency late on Aug 13.

In Cali, many families that lost their homes sought refuge in makeshift camps set up in streets and parks.

Maria del Carmen Rodriguez, 72, lost the apartment she had saved for her entire life.

Cradling a cup of coffee, she gazed at her decimated home from the soccer pitch where she has bedded down with her husband, 76.

“We wonder what aid we’re entitled to, whether they’re going to relocate us somewhere else, because this is going to last a long time,” she told AFP.

‘Lost my home’

De la Espriella has declared the disaster an “economic emergency” and announced three days of national mourning.

“We will do what is necessary,” the newly appointed leader said, vowing to “emerge again as a country and as a society”.

Javier Alzate, a 79-year-old psychologist, was trying to remove tiles and chunks of debris that were obstructing access to his damaged home in Pereira.

“It’s very distressing. Very sad. You work 40 or 50 years to buy a little house, struggling all that time to get it. I finally got it, and a few days later it’s gone,” Alzate said. “I lost my home and my car.”

The impoverished Choco region on the Pacific coast also suffered immensely, with some of its remote communities yet to be surveyed.

In the neighbouring Valle del Cauca region, Governor Dilian Francisca Toro said officials were conducting a census of damaged and destroyed homes to determine which buildings could still be occupied.

“We have to begin working because people simply cannot bear staying out on the streets any longer,” she said.

“People are telling us: ‘If you give us the materials, we’ll do the work ourselves,’ ” Toro said, describing plans for community-led reconstruction efforts.

‘Not alone’

Many Colombians have mobilised to help, bringing water, food and supplies to affected neighbourhoods, while long lines have formed outside blood donation centers.

Quake victims “are not alone, that is a message we want to convey”, Laura Mendoza, a 47-year-old volunteer organising donations in the capital Bogota, said.

“We are here giving what we can so that they at least have the most basic things,” she said.

A musician in Cali took to offering hugs to anyone who needed emotional support.

“We are going through a collective trauma, and I think the best way I could help was by giving away the energy I have and the vitality I have left,” Andres Solomon, 46, said.

Colombia was preparing to receive international urban search-and-rescue teams from the United States, El Salvador, Ecuador and Israel, disaster authorities said.

Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Aug 13 that Colombia had refused entry to Mexican rescuers over a claim that they lacked correct certification.

De la Espriella’s administration is facing criticism over allegedly blocking rescue teams from countries with leftist leadership, but it has denied the accusation. AFP