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Colombia has suffered its worst natural disaster in recent times as new President Abelardo de la Espriella confronts the crisis just days after taking office. A massive 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck the department of Chocó on August 10, 2026, claiming the lives of 329 people with over 4,600 others injured. The earthquake has left a further 247 people missing, according to the latest figures released August 22 by Colombia's National Unit for Disaster Risk Management (UNGRD).
The earthquake struck at 7:34 a.m. local time at a depth of approximately 110 kilometers, affecting the entire western region of Colombia and several central departments, with extensive destruction reported across Cali, Pereira, Quibdó, Manizales, Armenia, and Buenaventura. Tremors were also felt in Ecuador and Panama. Over 100 aftershocks followed, the largest registering magnitude 5.0.
President De la Espriella declared a national state of emergency and announced three days of national mourning. He traveled to Bogotá to meet with mayors and governors of the worst-affected departments at UNGRD headquarters, coordinating rescue and relief operations across the disaster zone. Thousands of military personnel and emergency workers have been deployed to cut through rubble in devastated neighborhoods in search of survivors.
A first assessment of economic damage puts the total at $9.6 billion, according to initial government estimates. The disaster affected 481 municipalities across 16 departments, impacting an estimated 314,000 people. International relief organizations — including World Central Kitchen — are already on the ground delivering aid.
The political dimensions of the disaster have drawn scrutiny. Several of the hardest-hit municipalities voted heavily against De la Espriella in June's presidential runoff, prompting questions about whether the right-wing leader would deliver aid equitably across the political divide. The government has maintained that relief distribution is based solely on need.
The Colombian earthquake now ranks among the deadliest natural disasters to strike South America in years. De la Espriella — who defeated left-wing candidate Iván Cepeda, close ally of outgoing Marxist president Gustavo Petro, in the June runoff — faces the challenge of unifying a fractured nation while managing a crisis of historic scale. President Trump congratulated De la Espriella on his victory shortly after the election, and relations between Washington and Bogotá are on firm ground heading into this pivotal moment for the new government.
