Colombian president Abelardo de la Espriella said on Wednesday that 265 people have died and 496 people remain missing following an earthquake on Monday that struck several major cities in the west of the country.
“Our efforts are focused on the disappeared,” de la Espriella told journalists.
Official estimates suggest the 7.4-magnitude quake, which struck the South American country just after midday Irish time on Monday, also injured 3,770 people, destroyed more than 9,550 homes and impacted more than 30,300 families.
In Cali, Colombia’s third-largest city, 56 buildings collapsed, killing at least 95 people and injuring close to 1,000 others, according to data from Asocapitales, the country’s capital cities association.
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Pereira, deep in the coffee-growing region and some 55km from the quake’s epicentre, counted at least 79 dead, according to Asocapitales. The mayor’s office said 300 people were missing.
Earlier, rescue teams raced to find survivors still trapped beneath collapsed buildings.
At Torres del Limonar, a collapsed apartment complex in Cali, emergency workers were still searching through the rubble for signs of life.
“We are in a race against time to save lives,” Cali mayor Alejandro Eder told reporters, warning that less than a day was left in the critical 72-hour window during which there are far greater chances of finding quake survivors.
“At this moment we still have hope, at least until about four days have passed since the quake,” said Camilo Cano, a fire department official from Bogota helping with the rescue efforts in Cali.
Cano said more than 20 people were rescued from the apartment complex in the first 12 hours after the quake by local crews and residents. Three more were later pulled out alive in more difficult operations under the wreckage.
[ Irish in earthquake-hit Colombia: ‘Everything started shaking’Opens in new window ]
But he said large crowds of volunteers and onlookers had at first made the search harder.
“We cannot concentrate and hear the calls of people under the structure,” Cano said, adding that movement on the debris also increased the danger if there were aftershocks from the quake, which was the strongest felt in Colombia in several decades.
Police had imposed tighter controls around the site by Wednesday, while volunteers were being directed to specific tasks, helping rescuers work more effectively, he said.
Among those still waiting for news about loved ones was Marcela Perez, who said her partner’s 11-year-old daughter was trapped with the girl’s grandparents when the building collapsed.
“We have been here since Monday waiting for the girl to be rescued, and for her grandparents too,” Perez said. “We are just waiting and trusting in God.” – Reuters
