As rubble clears, Colombia begins focusing on recovery after the earthquake
A week after a deadly quake, Colombia turns from rescue efforts to shelter, aid and rebuilding.
![An ambulance crushed by falling debris from the “Clinica Nuestra” private hospital in Cali, which partially collapsed during the August 10 earthquake. [Euan Wallace / Al Jazeera]](/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/DSC07478-1786997230.jpg?resize=770%2C513&quality=80)
![Colombia's President Abelardo de la Espriella said he had a "friendly and cordial" conversaiton with his supporter Donald Trump, in which he asked him to suspend planned tariffs on the quake-hit country. [File: Esteban Vega La-Rotta/AFP]](/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/afp_6a80e6411ac4-1786832449.jpg?resize=770%2C513&quality=80)
![Bryan Reyes sits at the edge of his hospital bed in a temporary medical tent outside the the District Hospital Luis Ablanque De La Plata. Having sustained three fractures in his leg after jumping out of a first floor window to escape the earthquake, Reyes now feels disappointed by the state’s response to the crisis. [Euan Wallace / Al Jazeera]](/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/DSC07904-1786751593.jpg?resize=770%2C513&quality=80)
![Families in Cali, Colombia, line up to report missing loved ones to disaster management officials after a powerful 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck the country. August 12, 2026. [Screenshot from Reuters file]](/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/image-1786752726.jpg?resize=608%2C513&quality=80)
![A man looks at a collapsed building following an earthquake in Pereira, Colombia, August 13, 2026. [Luisa Gonzalez/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/image-1786670350.jpg?resize=770%2C513&quality=80)
![Carlos Naranjo, a General Practitioner at the University Hospital of the Valle Evaristo Garcia, pictured outside the hospital’s emergency department. [Euan Wallace / Al Jazeera]](/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/DSC07348-1786650718.jpg?resize=770%2C513&quality=80)
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People wait as rescuers search for their relative amid the rubble of a collapsed building after an earthquake in Pereira, Colombia. [Luis Acosta/AFP]
A Mexican rescue worker searches through rubble two days after an earthquake struck Cali, Colombia. [Santiago Saldarriaga/AP Photo]
Patients from a clinic evacuated due to earthquake damage lie in beds at a temporary facility set up in a gymnasium at a nearby school in Cali. [Santiago Saldarriaga/AP Photo]
Rescue efforts in Colombia following Monday’s devastating earthquake have entered what officials called the “final phase” as the death toll rose to 265, with more than 3,500 others wounded. [Raul Arboleda/AFP]
Volunteers take part in a supply collection drive for the earthquake victims, at the Nemesio Camacho 'El Campin' stadium, in Bogota. [Esteban Vega La-Rotta/AFP]
Rescue crews on Wednesday were fast approaching the 72-hour mark since the quake, the period during which survivors are considered most likely to be found alive beneath collapsed buildings. [Luis Acosta/AFP]
The magnitude 7.4 earthquake was the strongest to hit Colombia this century. Nearly 500 people remain missing, according to local authorities, and more than 9,550 homes have been destroyed. [Fernando Vergara/AP Photo]
People sleep in a park after their homes were damaged by an earthquake that struck Pereira, Colombia. [Fernando Vergara/AP Photo]
Pereira, in the heart of Colombia’s coffee region, and Cali, the country’s third-largest city, reported 83 and 74 deaths, respectively. [Raul Arboleda/AFP]
Rescue workers and volunteers remove rubble as they search for survivors at the site of collapsed buildings after an earthquake in Cali. [Raul Arboleda/AFP]
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On the ground in Cali, Colombia’s worst-hit city after the quake
Reporting from the rubble of an apartment building, Al Jazeera’s Latin America Editor Lucia Newman describes the scene.
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Colombia scrambles to find survivors after deadly earthquake
At least 254 deaths have been reported so far, as rescue workers continue to sift through collapsed buildings.
![A volunteer signals for silence as rescuers attempt to locate survivors beneath the debris. [Euan Wallace / Al Jazeera]](/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/DSC07051-2-1786487312.jpg?resize=770%2C513&quality=80)
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Search for survivors underway in Colombia’s earthquake aftermath
Rescuers search for survivors in western Colombia in what is called the country’s strongest earthquake this century.
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