At least 20 dead in Colombia following powerful earthquake; Northern Ecuador experienced strong shaking

At least 20 people have been killed after a powerful 7.4 magnitude earthquake rocked Colombia and other Latin American countries on Monday, and causing damage and injuries and building evacuations in the capital Bogota. A strong 5.1 magnitude aftershock followed the main quake 45 minutes later. Rescue workers and residents work through eathquake rubble in Cali, Colombia early Monday. In the town of Pereira, 18 people were killed and others trapped in buildings that collapsed, Mayor Mauricio Salazar told Caracol Radio. “The situation is critical,” Salazar told Caracol Radio after the quake centered in neighboring Choco province. The Colombian geological service put the magnitude of the quake at 6.6 while its American counterpart USGS put it at 7.4, with an epicenter 100km (62 miles) underground in the west of Colombia. It was felt in Ecuador and as far away as Panama to the north, and prompted building evacuations in Bogota, AFP reporters saw. Ecuador’s Geophysical Institute reported “strong shaking” from the quake in Otavalo, Ibarra and Quito with moderate shaking in Guayaquil, Portoviejo and. Atuntaqui. The governor of Colombia’s Choco province wrote on X that there were injuries and serious damage to buildings in the department’s capital Quibdo. The mayor of Cali, Colombia’s third largest city, also reported “major damage”. News outlets aired footage of some buildings with their facades ripped off by the quake. In Bogota some people ran out into the street in their pajamas as emergency sirens rang out, AFP reporters saw. Twin earthquakes in Venezuela of magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 on June 24 killed more than 6,000 people and caused devastating property damage. _________________ Credit: France 24 and AFP The post At least 20 dead in Colombia following powerful earthquake; Northern Ecuador experienced strong shaking appeared first on CuencaHighLife.