Time running out in Colombia quake search as rescuers cling to signs of hope

The search for life in the rubble of Colombia’s powerful earthquake grew more desperate on Wednesday as search teams pushed up against a key time threshold to locate survivors with signs of life.

The devastation has tested Colombia’s new President Abelardo de la Espriella and his government as it scrambles to respond to the natural disaster and civil society as it pushes to provide aid to the vulnerable communities most affected by the quake.

By Tuesday, de la Espriella said the 7.4 magnitude earthquake had killed at least 181 people and left 2,595 more injured in the west of the country. He said at least 195 remained missing, but civilian-run databases put that number closer to 4,000.

Teams continued to pick through the rubble overnight in the hardest-hit cities of Cali, Pereira, Manizales and Quibdo, as time ticked away for victims to be found — and rescued — alive.

Aid agencies consider the first 48 to 72 hours crucial for retrieving survivors, though that threshold can be extended if they have access to food and water.

Small successes have broken through the flattened buildings: rescuers pulling a dust-covered baby through a crack in a concrete wall and onlookers cheering as teams lift a woman onto a stretcher.

In many areas, the official response to the devastation has been complicated by the ongoing crises of deep poverty and civil warfare that have forced displacement for decades.

“This earthquake compounds an already severe humanitarian situation, and there is a need for increased support for the humanitarian response,” said Giovanni Rizzo, Colombia director for the Norwegian Refugee Council.

A 2016 peace accord between rebels and the government, along with an ongoing armed conflict, may allow aid organisations to distribute food and other emergency materials more quickly, said María José Torres, the U.N. resident coordinator in Colombia. Aid organisations are already in place in some conflict-torn centres because of the peace process, including Choco at the epicentre of the quake.

“We have a presence on the ground. Therefore, our ability to be there, present with the people, I think, has increased exponentially,” Torres said in a statement Wednesday.

At the same time, aid from other countries and nonprofits abroad continued to roll in.

The US has offered over US$15 million in aid, and Mexico’s president said she is prepared to send hundreds of search and health workers, tons of health supplies and other equipment.

On Tuesday afternoon, Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele said his country would send two planes loaded with 100 tons of aid in the coming days.

“Our prayers are with the families of the victims, the wounded and all the Colombian people,” Bukele wrote on X.

For the latest from SBS News, download our app and subscribe to our newsletter.