Attachments
Download ReportExecutive Summary
On the morning of 10 August 2026, a magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck western Colombia, with an epicenter 5 km south of San José del Palmar, Chocó, at an intermediate depth of approximately 110 km. Shaking was felt across nine departmentos: Valle del Cauca, Risaralda, Caldas, Quindío, Chocó, Tolima, Antioquia, Cauca and Cundinamarca, and as far as Ecuador and Panama. USGS issued an Orange PAGER alert, and Colombian and international sources describe it as the country’s strongest earthquake in at least a decade.
As of 13 August, UNGRD reports 239 deaths, 3,755 injured and 496 missing nationally, and Asocapitales reports 241 deaths, of which 172 in capital cities. Deaths rose by roughly a third and injuries by nearly half in the 20 hours before this cut-off, so all figures remain a floor. Medicina Legal has received 202 bodies and identified 121, closing on the official toll from 180 a day earlier. Cali’s municipal toll has been revised downward from 95 to 74, the first downward revision of this emergency and consistent with deduplication rather than error. Departmental and national figures now reconcile, so the previously reported consolidation lag has closed. No national displacement figure exists, though UNGRD records 24,324 families, or 49,214 people, affected and reports describe widespread outdoor sheltering. The national damage tally now stands at 45,457 homes damaged, 9,215 destroyed, and 140 buildings collapsed, an order of magnitude above the previous balance and no longer exceeded by subnational counts. Seven hospitals have been evacuated nationally, 188 health facilities are recorded as affected, and at least eight jurisdictions are under hospital red alert.
Priority needs center on search and rescue and debris removal in Cali, Pereira, Manizales and Quibdó, with the roughly 72-hour survival window closing around midday on 13 August, six hours after this cut-off, and 279 people still under search in capital cities. Emergency medical care follows: trauma and surgical supplies, blood products and hospital surge capacity. Capital cities have now published a prioritized list covering rescue equipment and personnel, communications, mattresses, blankets, tents, generators, potable water, food, hygiene kits and protection supplies. Shelter and non-food items are needed against 9,215 homes destroyed, with no consolidated capacity figure, as is WASH support in Buenaventura, which faces a pre-existing water crisis, and in Chocó’s off-grid municipios. Protection needs include family tracing and safeguards for women, children, and displaced or migrant populations.
The Colombian government has declared a national disaster, with PAHO leading the health-sector response and Cruz Roja Colombiana, Civil Defense, and military units conducting search-and-rescue operations. The IFRC has launched an Emergency Appeal. Pledges include US$15.5 million from the United States, €2 million from the European Union and an Ecuadorian search-and-rescue team, though no flash appeal, CERF allocation, joint needs assessment or mapping of who is working where had been issued at this cut-off.
Access remains constrained, though the constraint has shifted. Quibdó and Buenaventura are reachable by air again, with both airports reopening on 11 August, but the road to Buenaventura remains closed due to around 20 landslides, and the two reopened airports cannot operate at night. Thirteen Chocó municipios have reported no data at all, a reporting gap rather than evidence of lower impact, and the departmento’s off-grid municipios remain without power or communications. Pre-existing armed-group presence and landmine contamination add unaddressed risk. Immediate funding and in-kind support are needed for search and rescue, medical surge capacity, and shelter, with priority given to Chocó and the Eje Cafetero, where needs remain the least documented.