By Latin America Reports | Created at 2026-08-10 14:31:51 | Updated at 2026-08-10 16:40:37
2 hours ago
Medellín, Colombia – Colombia was hit by a 7.4 magnitude earthquake at 7:34am on Monday, August 10, followed by another 4.8-magnitude earthquake at 8:18am, with both epicenters located in the western state of Chocó.
The first earthquake had a depth of just 98 kilometers and the second of 88 kilometers, both epicentered in the San José del Palmar municipality, according to the Colombian Geological Service.
“We have just experienced a severe seismic event in the department of Choco. We are concerned about aftershocks. Although the epicenter was in San José del Palmar, in the capital Quidbó there are injured people and severe damage to buildings,” said Chocó governor Nubia Carolina Córdoba-Curi on X, adding that authorities are already conducting damage assessment to issue the first official report.
“I have directly assumed leadership of the emergency response in San José del Palmar. I have ordered the establishment of a Unified Command Post to coordinate the attention to the damages and the affected individuals,” said newly-sworn-in President Abelardo de la Espriella, whose inauguration happened on Friday, August 7.
President de la Espriella also claimed he has requested a detailed report of the situation and the community’s most urgent needs from the director of the National Unit for Disaster Risk Management, David Santiago Tamayo, whom he appointed on July 21, 2026.
The National Committee for the Management of Disasters has been convened for an urgent meeting.
The first August 10 earthquake was also felt in other areas of the country, including Colombian capital Bogotá, Medellín, Cali, Manizales and Pereira.
Severe structural damage has been reported in the central cities of Pereira and Manizales, and the Pacific-bordering Cali via social media. Colombia’s Civil Aviation Authority suspended flight operations to several damaged airports for safety reasons.
The seismic event follows a 3.9-magnitude earthquake in the Venezuelan municipality of Santa Ana Del Táchira on August 9 at 12:57 am, which was felt in the eastern Colombian cities of Cúcuta and Bucaramanga. Authorities did not report structural damage, injured individuals, nor deaths relating to this event.
Fourteen other seismic events were registered by authorities on August 9, ranging from 2.0 to 2.8 magnitude, and reaching locations including Chocó, Santander, Cundinamarca and Cesar.
While no casualties have been reported pertaining to the seismic wave of August 9-10, unofficial accounts from Chocó, Pereira and Manizales detail deaths and entrapment under rubble.
The Colombian seismic events follow two consecutive 7.2 and 7.5-magnitude earthquakes in Venezuela on June 24, 2026, which provoked approximately 6,125 deaths. Here, the death toll keeps rising as search missions remain on the ground, working through the rubble.
This article originally appeared in The Bogota Post and was republished with permission.
Featured image source: Luis Miguel Lopez via X.
