A 7.4 magnitude earthquake struck a large part of Colombia on Monday, according to the Colombian Geological Service (SGC). Authorities reported material damage in several cities in the central and western parts of the country, mainly in Manizales, Cali, and Pereira, and there are already one death, several injured people, and three missing in Quibdó, Chocó.
Local media show collapsed houses in cities like Pereira and Manizales, in the tourist region of the Coffee Axis.
"There is no electricity or cell phone network, it felt very strong, very hard," said Martha Estrada, 66, who felt the earthquake in that region.
Alejandro Eder, mayor of Cali, the third largest city in Colombia, also reported "serious impacts" being monitored with drones.
President Abelardo de la Espriella announced that he was traveling to the Coffee Axis to assess the situation: "I will be personally in Pereira to accompany the affected and verify the government's response," said X De la Espriella, who assumed the presidency on Friday.
Although the SGC initially reported a magnitude of 6.7, in a later bulletin, they raised the figure to 7.4. The seismic event occurred at 07:34 local time (12:34 GMT), with the epicenter in the municipality of San José del Palmar (Chocó department) and a depth of 82 kilometers.
The tremor was strongly felt in Bogotá, Cali, Popayán, Manizales, Armenia, Pereira, and Medellín. Among the main reported impacts so far are:
Several regions in eastern Panama were also shaken on Monday. The earthquake vibrations lasted between 40 seconds and one minute, according to authorities from the Institute of Geosciences of the University of Panama. The movement was felt in the province of Darién, the Guna Yala region, and East Panama, areas near the border with Colombia.
In the Panamanian capital and its satellite cities, numerous buildings were evacuated preventively, including health centers like Policlínica Santiago Barraza in La Chorrera. The population remained outside the facilities for a moment, a measure supported by relief agencies, who asked to remain calm and return to the structures if no damage was present.
About an hour after the event, no material damage or victims were reported, according to the competent authorities.
On June 24, a double earthquake of magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 caused more than 6,000 deaths and destruction in neighboring Venezuela.