BOGOTÁ — A powerful earthquake struck central Colombia late last night, tearing through residential blocks and sending panicked residents into the streets. Emergency crews are currently working under floodlights, digging through the twisted remains of homes in a desperate search for survivors.
The tremors hit just after 11:00 p.m. local time, centered near the mountainous region of Meta. While the full scale of the destruction is still coming into focus, the initial reports point to a grim reality: multiple buildings have collapsed, trapping families in the dark.
“I felt the floor drop,” said Maria Gomez, a local resident who escaped her apartment building moments before the second floor buckled. “There was no time to grab anything. Just the sound of walls cracking.”
Rescue operations are hampered by the rugged terrain and the constant threat of aftershocks. Heavy machinery is struggling to reach the worst-hit neighborhoods, forcing firefighters and volunteers to move debris by hand. The local government has declared a state of emergency, diverting all available medical supplies and search-and-rescue teams to the epicenter.
Hospitals in nearby Villavicencio are already struggling to manage the influx of the injured. Doctors are performing triage in parking lots as the city’s power grid remains unstable, flickering in and out as engineers attempt to patch damaged substations.
For those waiting on the perimeter of the disaster zone, the wait is agonizing. Families huddle near police cordons, clutching blankets and waiting for news on loved ones who were inside when the earth shook.
The national geological agency has warned that the risk of further collapse remains high. As the sun begins to rise over the debris, the window for finding survivors is rapidly closing — turning a night of chaos into a grueling race against time.
