A magnitude 7.4 earthquake shook Colombia this Monday, according to the Euro-Mediterranean Seismological Center (EMSC). The earthquake has caused material damage and injuries in the city of Quibdó, the closest capital to the epicenter, a government official told Reuters.
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The tremor was felt at 7:34 local time (12:34 GMT) and had its epicenter in the town of San José del Palmar, in the department of Chocó, located on the Pacific coast, at a depth of 82 kilometers, the SGC indicated in a first bulletin. The Colombian Geological Service places the depth at 96 kilometers.
Just half an hour later, the earthquake caused two aftershocks, of magnitude 4.8 and 4.6, with epicenters in San José del Palmar and Nóvita.
According to El Espectador, the National Unit for Disaster Risk Management (UNGRD) reported that they are talking with territorial authorities and entities of the National Disaster Risk Management System to verify possible damages.
An earthquake of that intensity can cause damage in densely populated areas, according to experts. “We have just experienced a serious seismic event in the department of Chocó. We are concerned about the aftershocks. Although the epicenter was San José del Palmar, there are injured people and serious damage to buildings in the capital Quibdó,” said Governor Nubia Carolina Córdoba on X.
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The tremor was felt in several cities of the country of 50 million inhabitants, including Pereira and Quibdó, the closest cities, as well as in Bogotá, Cali, Manizales, and Pereira. Hundreds of people evacuated their homes in Bogotá, the Colombian capital, and went out to the streets.
The earthquake was also strong in Panama, where the vibrations lasted between 40 seconds and a minute, according to the authorities of the Institute of Geosciences of the University of Panama (state), and were especially strong in the province of Darién and the Guna Yala comarca, bordering Colombia, in the province of East Panama.
In the Panamanian capital and satellite cities, numerous buildings were evacuated preventively, including health centers such as the Santiago Barraza polyclinic in La Chorrera.
The tremor was also felt in Ecuador, in the tropical provinces of Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas and Los Ríos, as well as in the coastal provinces of Esmeraldas (bordering Colombia), Guayas, and Manabí.
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